Inner Passions
by magicalwolfgirl
Summary: Are secrets meant to be kept? Rachel loves Quinn and Quinn loves Rachel but will they be able to deal with their love for each other in Lima, Ohio? And will Rachel's secret cause her to turn the wrong way or will they lead her to follow her heart? FABERRY, rated T, Following and Reviewing is appreciated
1. New Beginnings

**Author's note**

**Hey everyone, magicalwolfgirl here. I wrote this for NaNoWriMo (which basically means I have all the plot written out and it's currently about 50000 ords long) which my friend actually convinced me to this is still my first novel or fanfiction. I've always wanted to write but I am totally insecure about my artwork (that includes singing, music, drawings, paintings, sculptures, novelling, poetry, etc.) so please don't bash too much. I wrote my own characters but at the time I was reading a lot of Faberry fanfiction so my story even if I had changed the names and sports or hobbies (Rachel in the original draft swims instead of sings) was based off of Glee with minor changes. I will be posting as much as my schedule (I am a university student and currently it is time for finals so no promises) allows. So this is pretty AU, I don't know if I want to change it back (from swimming to singing) and make it more aligned with Glee and I don't know if I want to write in Quinn's pregnancy and stuff, I might just change all the names back and write in some Brittana. If you guys have any ideas and whether or not I should follow Glee canon, drop me a link and I'll try to work it out.**

**By the way, I don't own any of this stuff. **

**~magicalwolfgirl**

Chapter 1 - New Beginnings

Rachel

I was sitting in front of my closet, staring at all my clothes and accessories. Today has to be perfect; it's my first day at my new school. Prior to today, I was homeschooled and stints in school lasted about a month long before changing schools and sometimes even changing cities or towns. It took so long to convince my fathers to let me go, more on that later.

Anyway, I'm trying to pick the perfect outfit because I want to fit in, all my life; I have been homeschooled by my fathers because of my "little" secret. Well, I guess it's not that little, I mean, it's a family secret.

Man! I got to get out of my head and just get ready. I need to be at school early because I need to pick my courses and have an orientation tour or something. Suddenly, I hear a loud shout and I hit my head on the closet door in my shock. "Rachel Barbara Berry, you are in trouble if you are not down here in 5 minutes" shouts my papa, Leroy. I look at the time and immediately start throwing on my favourite outfit: a pair of black leggings, little jean shorts, a blue tank top and an off the shoulder t-shirt. I French-braid my hair and put on a blue head band to keep the short baby hairs out of my face.

I rush to get downstairs where I see my favourite breakfast waiting: vegan bacon. And not just any old bacon, it is Papa Lee's awesome glazed vegan bacon. Cooking is one of his "special" talents that come with his presentation of the "family secret". My other dad is at work already, he's a surgeon at a local hospital and that is part of his gift. I have not told anyone about my gift yet as it is the rarest of all the gifts and if I did my fathers would probably freak and pull me out of school, yet again.

I gulped down the bacon along with eggs and toast and drank a glass of orange juice. Then, Leroy called me and I hopped in the car, he was going to drop me off at school before going to the daycare. Leroy cooked for the kids at the daycare for gifted children. I used to go as a kid but my parents pulled me out because I reached the age of 6 without showing signs of my special gift. They thought I was normal, I actually found out about my gift when I was 14. Guess I was a late bloomer, which I hear is typical of those with my particular gift. I mean it makes sense though, if we developed this particular gift any earlier, it would be pretty hard to control and people could easily figure out our secret. I digress.

He drives me to the high school that I will be attending, William McKinley High School, chattering all the way. He talks a lot when he's nervous; a habit that I picked up from him and apparently I talk a lot anyway. When we arrive, he says, "Dear, do I need to walk you inside or something?" I turn to him after looking to see what the other students do and say "No, dad, I want to make a good first impression. I want to be 'cool.' Besides maybe next time, you should let me walk to school. I mean, it seems like all the 'cool' kids do." Leroy nods and seems to wipe a tear away when he thinks I wasn't looking. I leave the car and enter the school looking for the office.I find it, enter and pick my courses: science, visual art, gym and English, for next semester, math, history, geography and vocal music. There is a short orientation and the tour guide drops me off at my first class, science and I pick a seat near in the middle. The door opens and a cute girl walks in. She is in a cheerleading outfit, red and white with white tennis shoes, she has long blond hair tied up in a high ponytail and hazel eyes and she smirks at me. She walks to the back of the class and sits with the crowd that I deem the popular group.

During the class, I notice that the teacher is teaching something I learned ages ago and so I start daydreaming about the cute girl whose name I do not yet know. I was never bothered about sexual orientation, being raised by two dads but however, prior to seeing this gorgeous cute girl, I definitely preferred girls.

Quinn

William McKinley High School. I am here again and I am on top of the world but it always seems like there is something missing. But I have all that a girl would want, everything my family wants. I am the head cheerleader; I am dating this guy that everyone wants, my marks are decent and I have friends. Well, only two real friends but they are my best friends, Santana Lopez, my right hand cheerleader and my enforcer and Brittney Pierce, who isn't traditionally smart but is still a genius.

Coach Sylvester never picks sophomores to be team captain but she did at the end of last year. I mean, before now, she never did, it must have something to do with me reminding her of herself or something like that. I pulled Santana and Britt to the top with me because I wouldn't have it any other way. We are the Unholy Trinity after all.

Anyway, before going into my first class, science, I hang out with my team and all my fellow cheerleaders. We all go into our respective class a minute before the bell rings and I walk by the most beautiful girl. She must be new as I have never seen her before. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside and give her a small smile which I know she sees. But then I see my "friends" at the back looking at me and I give the classroom a disdainful HBIC glare and join my friends at the back.

Through the class, I try not to stare at her and when my friends aren't looking, I get that stupid star struck look that I only got once ever before. I mean at one point at least, I thought he was my one but then I realized over time that I wasn't interested in making my family happy. I just feared what would happen if my family, well technically, my father, wasn't happy.

I must not have been as secretive as a thought because during lunch something terrible happens.


	2. Rachel's Secret

**Hey everyone**

**Super stoked about the follows and review :) So here's the rapid update cuz I'm super happy about that. Anyway again, I don't own Glee and any of the characters and I don't have a beta so any and all mistakes are mine. And I think I'm going to keep Tina as a stutterer but not that it matters because she and the other gleeks besides Puck, Santana, Britt, Rach, Quinn and Finn will be really as involved. Again please, review, favourite, follow and do all these things cuz that will make me want to respond faster :)**

**~Magicalwolfgirl**

* * *

Chapter 2 - Kayla's Secret

Quinn

Right before lunch, I overhear my friends talking about a really big prank. Here at William McKinley High School, the prank of choice is slushying. A bunch of popular kids would buy slushies from the cafeteria and pour them on the misfits. Santana's favourite target was the stutterer; I think her name is Tina. The slushy just makes her stutter many times worse. It's like when your computer freezes, no amount of waiting or coaxing can make it move and when you least expected it; it moves but then freezes again. So annoying! But then you see the pain on her face from not being able to express herself or being able to buck the system.

The typical result of slushying is an embarrassing freezing person who wears their shame if they didn't bring extra clothes. If they did, they still had to stand there dripping until they can run to the washroom to change and if they didn't, it is a dry sticky tie-dye embarrassment, getting slushied marks you to be the kid that everyone at school can bully. Many of the misfits have "emergency slushy kits" typically containing several changes of clothing, wet wipes and sample sized shampoo and body wash. I

always hated this part of being popular, the needing to hurt other people for the sake of my own reputation. At least, it means I don't get slushied. I needed to keep up appearances, so I asked my best friend, Santana, what was going on. She says "We are gonna slushy the new girl. She comes in and acts like she owns the place. We need to put her in her place, at the bottom of the hierarchy" I freeze in shock. "What did she do?" "Nothing yet but she looks like she can start a revolution. I mean have you seen here? She's hot! And remember, anything can happen, do you want to lose your popularity and get slushied every day?" she replied. I shook my head vehemently and asked "So when are we going to do it?" "Right before lunch" she said.

I walk away as I try to convince myself that this is the right thing to do.

* * *

Rachel

Everything is going well so far and that makes me really happy but I haven't really made any friends yet. I don't want to breach the status quo or whatever like I don't know where I belong yet.

However, I do notice there are popular kids, typically jocks or cheerleaders, the really unpopular kids tend to play video games and role play or something. It is the ones in between that confuse me like why are they in the middle and where defines the "middle dwellers"? Knowing that I was not a jock or a cheerleader and that I didn't play video games and was not visibly different in anyway, I figured I was somewhere in the middle. Being the know-it-all that I am, I wanted to know more about the middle dwellers. I tried to talk to people but no one seemed to want to talk to me, I was starting to feel a little down so I gave myself a pep talk in my head.

Anyway, I was walking to the cafeteria, lost in my head, when I was blocked by a bunch of jocks and cheerleaders apparently they are called the Cheerios including the cute girl from science class. I stopped and turned around to find a different place to sit and eat when I realized there were more popular kids behind me. They were holding big cups with the logo "Thirstquenchers", the cute girl steps forward and says "Know your place, Loser." She tips her cup over my head and the rest of them follow her lead. All I see is a rainbow of colours and all of a sudden, I feel cold and I look down at the rainbow that has now ruined my favourite outfit.

I run to a washroom as I feel the urge to reveal my secret. Sitting in a bathroom stall, I fight to stay human; I forgot to check if there was anyone else in the bathroom, luckily there was no one else in the bathroom.

Oh, I guess I should mention that the family secret is that we are all archeadracos. We are the descendants of dragons. When our dragon ancestors began to get persecuted, there was a dragon that fell in love with a human, Eva. This dragon, Genesis, was hunted by the largest group of humans he had ever come across; they were the tribe mates of Eva, led by the man that Eva had scorned in favour of Genesis. Somehow his desire, his love allowed him to shift into a human. He had run away with Eva, was never found and lived a long life with Eva. He and Eva had many children. These were the first true archeadracos.

We can now easily shift to human form and sometimes into certain animals and have certain strengths beyond that of a normal human. My fathers are not aware that I am a fire breather but specifically we fire breathers are rare. The archeadraco with healing powers or gifts with spices and herbs, like my dad, Hiram and my papa, Leroy are the most common. They are often nurses, doctors or work in the hospital or in the medical field or do research or any other job in the scientific field like my father or become chefs and work with spices like my papa. They can also work with animals as a veterinarian or plants as a botanist or gardener. Followed by archeadraco with the gift of knowledge, they can also be gifted with the ability to speak many human languages or speaking to other animals. Next, some archeadracos are able to live in different environments such as underwater, really hot places or really cold places or other locations that other dracolings merely tolerate. These are known as environmental archeadracos or envirodracos for short. Then, there are archeadraco with super strength or super speed. There are also shade archeadraco, these are almost as rare as fire breathers. They hide our race, they can cause people or animals or even archeadraco to forget, they have the most mind powers such as telekinesis or mind reading. Finally, fire breathers like me are the rarest. No two dragons manifest their special powers the same way.

There are also archeadraco that are not endowed with the above special powers; they make up about half the archeadraco population.

As archeadraco are stronger and faster than normal humans, we have better senses and we are typically smarter than the normal human. We are generally smaller than regular dragons in our dragon form. Under certain situations such as great stress and life and death situations, we tend to want to revert to our dragon form in order to better protect us. My dragon is golden with red wings and chocolate brown eyes. We keep the colour of our eyes when we shift to our archeadracos but they begin to shimmer a certain way like the fire in us is coming out.

I pull out my mirror and realized that I had the shimmery eyes and my skin was starting to glimmer with a gold tint. I breathe deeply and shove back my draco, telling myself that I am in control and that I am safe. When I am ready, I exit the stall and realize that I am in one of the washrooms with shower stalls. Thank God, I think as I look through door that attaches the shower room to the washroom, no one is inside so I rush in and close and lock the door behind me. I peel off the sticky clothes that may now be ruined and pull out my gym clothes from my bag. I turn on one shower and put my clothes underneath hoping to rinse the syrup from it. I, then stand under the other and begin to cry. I wanted to fit in and prove to my parents that I can do this. I decide that my parents don't need to know. After all, I really wanted to stay at school and find a place that I belong.

Archeadracos aren't meant to stay in populations of just archeadraco; we thrive in communities that have humans, dracolings and other animals.

Afterwards, I eat my lunch, put on my gym clothes and put away my slightly stained clothes and head towards the gym. As if everything was normal.

* * *

Quinn

After we slushied the new girl, I enter the cafeteria in a daze and sat down next to the football team captain and quarterback, who is my boyfriend, Finn. I am going through the motions, kissing Finn softly, sitting with my friends, trying to ignore Brittney and Santana ignoring each other, eating my lunch when in reality I am thinking about the way the new girl looked at me. Her normally chocolate brown eyes turned intensely brown and her skin seemed to shimmer when we had slushied her. I wondered what was going on.

* * *

**Author's note**

**The draco idea comes from a book written by Sophie Jordan, I only read the first of the series. It is still pretty different though. **


	3. New Friends and Teammates

**Authors note: I've decided. I mentioned before that I wrote in the original story that Rachel was a swimmer instead of a singing. I think I'm going to keep her a swimmer just cuz I'm a swimmer (not professionally, like I've never been on a team or anything. But I am a lifeguard and swim teacher) and it makes more sense to me than singing. Also because it would be a lot of work and time to change everything back and I don't have that many readers but I think you guys who do read this would appreciate not having to wait so long for the story. But if there is anyone who really wants it to be singing instead, let me know by review or pm and I can alter and repost. Anyway, I still don't own anything (glee, Firelight (novel) by Sophie Jordan) and any and all mistakes are mine (no beta). **

**Reviewers:**

**gllover22: First of all, 22 is my favourite number :P anyway I hate slushying too. That would royally suck and I'm super glad that my school was no where as bad. haha. the Rachel fire breathing on popular kids would be great, but archeadracos are meant to live around humans and giving up their secret of being able to shift wouldn't be good. more on that later but yea. And Santana has some issues of her own, its not her fault she bullies, so much repression of emotions lol. Yea Quinn kissing Finn is eww but again repression of emotions and she needs to keep up her reputation. **

**laylarei: Glad you think it is. I love fantasy and I have been a little Faberry obsessed of late so that is kinda the reason this story popped up. **

**ENJOY THE CHAPT :)**

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Chapter 3 – New friends and teammates

Rachel

The rest of school passed without a hitch. My dad, Hiram came to pick me up and asked "How did school go?" I just told him that it went fine. I learned the name of the cute girl, Quinn and that she and her cheer friends were on the school's cheerleading squad, the Cheerios. Quinn is the head cheerleader and since the cheerleading squad had actually won more competitions than any of the sports teams put together, they rule the school.

Even if everyone thinks the football team rules the school, in reality is the cheerleading squad is the school's ruler, which would make Quinn the most popular person and the Queen of the school. Which would make my crush totally impossible for me to achieve, but then again, I'm Rachel Berry, I can do anything I put my mind to.

She apparently did well in school; I'm hearing a 4.0 GPA. Plus that guy she's dating is Finn Hudson, the football team's quarterback and captain, the king to her queen. She seemed so well rounded.

I remembered back to when she slushied me and I was just so upset with myself. Why did I ever think I had a chance at fitting in, why did I decide to go to this school? I got the feeling that she didn't like what she was doing. That there is more to the story but I don't know him, I don't know why she does what she does, slushying and bulling the misfits, which apparently includes me now.

Anyway, I don't want my fathers to know. They would probably pull me out of school and homeschool me or find me a similarly gifted tutor or not gifted tutor because they don't yet know about the fire breathing. By gifted, I mean an archeodraco tutor.

I just went home and did my homework, ate dinner and after my extensive night-time routine, I went to bed. Like nothing was wrong.

* * *

Quinn

The rest of the school day went by with me thinking about what I had done. I kept thinking that that girl is pretty and strong. After the slushy fest, she cleaned up and came up with her head held high like nothing just happened. She ran really fast in gym and suddenly I realize that I am falling for her. Her name is Rachel and she has perfectly brown hair and gorgeous chocolate brown doe eyes. She is beautiful enough to be at the top but I cannot see her acting the way that the top girls do. She just didn't act like a jerk and seemed like she would never do anything to hurt in any way. Plus the fact, that she just came to this school, she has no power currently. She seems to be so passionate, so kind, so full of emotions; it knocks the wind out of me.

But it can't be because she is on the bottom of the social ladder and I am on the top. I am so angered over this situation. If I wasn't so intent on impressing my parents, trying to belong, then Coach Sylvester wouldn't have chosen me to be head cheerleader. I have practice today, so I go through the motions of practice and drills and bitching on the rest of the team to run more laps and practice until they are perfect.

I put on my HBIC glare and mask and most people don't notice my distraction, except for Santana and Brittney but they cover for me. At one point, I get out of my head and concentrate on practice. After all, I'm not allowed to have feelings for girls, I'm not allowed to think this way.

* * *

Rachel

The next day, I pack extra sets of clothing for gym and just in case I get slushied or thrown into the dumpster and pick out clothes to wear before heading downstairs for breakfast. I was daydreaming in the car when my dad, Hiram was driving me to school when I thought of something.

I saw a pool at the school yesterday but no one uses it. It looks dirty and has not been used for years but I know that I could probably bring it back to working order. I decide to go to the principal and see if I can convince him to rent it or let us use it so I can start a swim and diving team. Even though I am a fire breathing dragon, I love water. Swimming and diving almost give me the same thrill as becoming a dragon and flying.

Sometimes, we as a family go out in the middle of the night to a secluded area and transform and fly or use our talents as a dragon. We have not gone in a while; we have been too busy since the move. I needed a release, I feel as though any little thing would cause "dragon eyes" or "dragon skin" to appear, I had always hated feeling so volatile.

At the principal's office, he allows it when I offer to clean it and give out swim lessons to children. But he says if we don't qualify for regionals, he was going to cut the team and convert the pool space to more classrooms or labs or gym space or something.

I text my parents telling them that I wouldn't need a ride home. Hiram texts me back asking what I am doing and congratulating me on making friends. I roll my eyes because I don't have friends. Leroy doesn't respond. I realize that he would be at work and his personal phone is probably in his locker.

I go through classes on autopilot, meeting new friends at lunch: Tina who stutters, Artie who was in a car crash as a child and is in a wheelchair, Mercedes and Kurt who is gay. They are misfits like me and we get along. We share slushy stories and I learn from them that the school can do very little to protect us due to fear of losing funding or stepping on someone's toes, after all, the popular kids come from very old, rich and influential families.

In the second half of lunch, I tell them that I got a job and ask them if they would be interested in joining the swim and dive team. They all agree which surprise me; they were friendlier than I expected them to be. I tell them that I have to go clean the pool so that we can start practices as soon as possible. To my surprise, they offer to come help me. We do a bit of cleaning and then run off to our afternoon classes.

Afterward, we meet up again to finish cleaning and preparing the pool which comes with a small slide for children and a couple diving boards. At the end, we are all covered in nasty gunk that smells bad and are so exhausted but smiling because the pool was beautiful. I tell them all to meet tomorrow at 7 so that we have 90 minutes to train before school starts. I wait with them until all their parents arrive to take them home because it was pretty late as we leave the school, the doors lock behind us as everyone had already left for the day.

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**AN2: Keep the reviews and the follows and all of those coming. They make me excited about writing and make my insecurities go away :)**


	4. Thoughts Hurt My Head

**Author's Note**

**Hey y'all. I know that I said updates were probably going to be not frequent but with all the chapters already written (well mostly, just requiring alterations because I had them with different names and stuff) in the way that I wanted. but the upcoming chapters will probably require more work because they are pretty not canon-y so they will seriously take a bit longer. Sorry guys but I will do my best. I already did some fixing in this chapter which made it the longest chapter so far. Oh again, I still don't own Glee or the draco shifting idea (from Sophie Jordan's Firelight)**

**Reviewers:**

**RVFlorida: I'm glad :) I enjoyed writing it, sharing it has been a little nerve-wracking though but knowing that people are enjoying it and liking it really helps with that.**

**Laylarei: I know right :) I love my fire breathing and swimming Rachel. **

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Chapter 4 – Thoughts hurt my head

Rachel

First day of practice is everything I thought it would be and more. I loved the feeling of swimming and diving, well, it's second to the feeling of letting my archeadraco free and actually flying. The pool is a bit small but now very clean after the hours, we had put into cleaning it yesterday.

I notice that Artie is very good at the 25 m front crawl and back crawl even if he couldn't use his legs. He said it was probably due to him being in the chair since he was a kid, that he had developed well defined arms and upper body because of the chair. He even had abs! This guy works hard and it shows, he is in amazing shape. 25 m was the best distance for him because he couldn't flip turn or turn at all and because of the sprint nature of this distance. I told him that I would work on finding a modified turn and work on it with him so that he could finally swim some of the longer distances. Kurt is a natural and has a very smooth butterfly. He was also a beautiful diver probably the best out of the current team. I gave him a list of dives to work on, they were more complicated than him normal dives and he agreed to work on them. Tina definitely did not stutter in her swimming. She was the best at the longer distances. Mercedes is the best at breaststroke. I preferred medleys and considered myself the most well rounded. My diving was not as good as Kurt's technically but I still held my own and could pull off riskier dives than he could, if I didn't flop that is.

We did drills and some push ups and sit ups for practice today. I gave my friends a list of dates for practices and a set of dry exercises to do when we don't have practices. Each person's workout was slightly different, in order for us to improve our individual weaknesses and play off our strengths. We then went to the showers and headed to our homeroom classes.

Quinn

The next day, I heard about Rachel's swim team. I yearned to join and get to know her more but ever since the slushy fest, she had just ignored me. As well, don't tell anyone but I kind of don't know how to swim and am totally embarrassed about it. Talking to Santana, I found out that if the team did not earn a certain standing by regionals that it would be cut by the principal. I heard that the principal wanted to fill in the pool and convert it to more classrooms and maybe labs for the science departments.

So in homeroom, I get an idea. I saw the eyes that Finn had for her, hell, most boys wanted Rachel. She was an internationally ranked swimmer and a nationally ranked diver; she had those big chocolate brown doe eyes and that long brown hair. She is short but somehow she also had super long legs that went for miles, maybe it's those short skirts that she loves.

Ugh. I have got to start thinking about something else or God will probably smite me and my parents would kill me. Or at least my dad would, my mom would probably just stand by, watching.

Anyhow, Finn can swim, I could let him join the swim team, learn more about them and try to break up the team. I also wanted Rachel's dream of a swim team at this school destroyed. I hope than she would then become a cheerleader or begin to build her power and reputation at the school and hopefully, if she becomes head cheerleader or something, it would be acceptable for me to date her. Hopefully, I would finally get over myself then because as soon as I saw this girl. I knew. I was a lesbian, at the very least, a bisexual. The fact is I only dated Finn for my parent's approval. I ended up hating myself and hating my family more and more. At least Finn isn't smart, I can easily get him to do what I wanted him to do, plus he's so scared of my HBIC glare or as he calls it "Scary Quinn".

So after practice, I get Finn, my boyfriend who kisses me and I ask him to join the swim team and do my dirty work for me. He knows how to swim and is good at it, and he was on the city's swim team. Not as good as Rachel though, no according to her school file that Santana stole from the school's records, she was part of the national team, which is likely part of the reason she was accepted at this school despite being homeschooled for most of her life. I try to convince him saying "If you join the swim team, I'll let you touch my breasts." He shouts back "What the swim team? But that's social suicide. That must be worth a under the shirt breast touch." I grimace, "Fine! Over the bra, though." He seems to think and says "DEAL!" and walks away slightly hunched, grabbing at his crotch.

I turn away and try not to be sick when I see Rachel at her locker, she must have been listening to our conversation; she is slightly open mouthed and walks away, shaking her head. I don't know what makes me sicker to my stomach, the fact that I have to let Finn cop a feel or Rachel being upset over what she heard.

Finn

As Quinn, my girlfriend, stops me after practice and tells me to stay, I immediately agree. I know that I have to be on her good side, I was so afraid of her stare and "Scary Quinn". I thought it was because she had caught me staring at Rachel. "Join the swim and dive team. I want you to get to know the members especially Rachel. When you figure out a weakness, I want you to break up the team."

I stare at her in shock. She could not have known that I had a crush on Rachel. I mean who wouldn't; she is cute and pretty and just so adorable. Too bad that she is new and that she hangs out with the bottom-dwellers, the stupid swim team. Too bad she wasn't here last year when I first decided to date Quinn, I would have totally went for her then. Maybe this is an opportunity for me to date her; I can be pretty convincing, right? Hmmmm. I would have to figure out a way to ditch Quinn. I don't think it would take much to convince Rachel to date me; she wouldn't have to keep getting slushied.

I agree because I am excited at getting the chance to spend time with her, my crush.

Rachel

We had practice this morning, so I saw no point in having another practice after school. But I was so desperate for a release, a chance to experience the thrill of my draco. I decided to practice alone. I pulled on my suit, it's a good thing I had brought extras, this one was black with blue swirly designs, and checked the time before I dived into the deep end of the pool. I started with butterfly, flip turned at the end and returned with butterfly before doing the same thing with back stroke. Next came breast stroke and finally I ended with front crawl. After placing both hands on the wall, I checked the time.

It wasn't my best work but I was happy because I loved the water, plus I hadn't warmed up yet. I then decided to take out the fins and the pull buoys and work on my technique with the different strokes. Afterwards, I work on my entry dive. Streamlined, hands above my head, diving as shallowly as I could to propel myself as far as I could without creating a belly flop, as I climb out to get ready for my next attempt, I look up.

I see a boy, his name is Finn, Quinn's boyfriend and I feel the ripple of jealousy in my belly. I so wished that it was me with Quinn instead of the way it was. He is really tall and walks like he doesn't know what to do with his too tall body. He is in my Spanish class and he has floppy brown hair and light brown eyes.

I think he is our year but he seems to have a child-like quality and seems to be a bit dim and on the football team, quarterback, I think. It seems I am right on that count, he's holding a letterman jacket with the school's team colours; red and white. I can see the sleeves that say "football" from here. He seems to have been watching me swim and I hope that he was not there for long.

Sometimes, if I get too distracted by swimming and running, my concentration tends to slip and I may get "dragon skin" which is what Leroy says when our dragon skin starts to push its way to our skin's surface or "dragon eyes" which is what Hiram calls the intense glittering in our eyes that tends to appear before we shift which she says is a reflection of our dragon souls. I subtly check my arms for the gold glittering but all I see is my normal tan skin that I retain from long summers spent outside.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I once again look up and notice that the boy is now standing behind the waist high wall that separates the viewing area from the pool. He has that look on his face that says he didn't want to initiate the conversation so I say "Hi, Finn right? What do you need?" He says "Yeah and you are Rachel, right? Captain of the swim and dive team? I want to know the days you guys practice because I want to join the team." I climb the rest of the way out of the pool while trying to hide my look of surprise. I look at him and say "Aren't you part of the football team? Why would you want to join my "team of misfits"? Aren't we too uncool for you football jocks? Don't all you football players hate us or something? And can you even swim?" He retorts with a mock indignant face "I can most certainly swim; I am a lifeguard for goodness sake. I am also a football player but I don't like to let the status quo rule my life. I could care less about breaking it. Besides, you are definitely cool." He grins as he says the last sentence and winks.

In my head, I roll my eyes, I smile and say "We are practicing tomorrow after school, bring your swim stuff and my team and I will decide if you can join the team based on your technique and times. How do you feel about diving, like not the dive when you start, I mean the artistic diving?" Finn appears to think before replying "I never really did diving artistically, maybe you can give me some tips and hints tomorrow." I notice the subtle undertones that signal to me that he is trying to flirt with me yet again as I hand over a sheet of paper with a list of dives, trying not to roll my eyes and say "Look this over tonight and we can see where to go from there." Finn thanks me and leaves.

I hope that he is serious about the team, we need more members but I fear he has other motives for joining the team. I dive into the water, practicing my individual medley again, all the while ignoring the weird feeling in my stomach.

Finn

I leave the school pool and I realize I have a big grin on my face. Remembering that I need to tell Quinn about what has happen makes that grin disappear though. Taking out my phone, I look for Quinn's number and text her saying that I was trying out for the swim team tomorrow. But thinking about Rachel puts the grin right back. But I also feel a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wonder what that is about. I grab an apple from my bag thinking that it is hunger but it doesn't seem to fix it. Exiting the school, I get picked up by my mom and we head home. By the time I get home, I had forgotten all about the weird feeling.

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**AN 2: next chapter, more about the weird feeling in Rach/Finn's stomach, first shift in this story and moreeeee. Please review, follow, favourite or pm or whatever floats your boat. Until next time**

**~magicalwolfgirl**


	5. Hunters, Dracos and Inner Feelings

**Author's Note:**

**So I combined the 5th and the 6th story in my original novel to make this. I think I will be adding in canon in the sense that Quinn will go have sex with Puck and get pregnant but I don't know how I feel about making the whole baby-daddy drama stuff. In any case, it will take some time to write, so please be patient. (or it might come sooner because I don't wanna study :P) Again, I don't own anything and if I make any mistakes it's probably because most of these chapters have been copied and pasted from my original novel and altered to fit Glee and again I have no beta. **

**Reviewers**

**gllover22: Thanks for the encouragement, I always thought I write like a child. Like my writing style isn't mature enough to write fiction and stuff, yeah, I know, I'm really insecure :P. I like it too, I promise, Rachel in my story is just as intense about swimming as she is about Glee and music in the show. Yeah, Quinn's family is sucky. I feel a little bad for her family though, like so many Faberry or Quitt or Quintana fanfics just write them as so so so bad. but then I remember that Quinn has been living in that for so long and had been brainwashed practically for so long and feeling so inadequate like needing a nose job and lose weight and stop being Lucy just to feel pretty. Look forward to a lot more annoyance, I plan to build the sexual tension and annoy you and my readers for a while longer. Please don't stop reading though, I promise Quinn will get over her problems and the Finn-bashing will come. I PROMISE. Finnept bothers me too. **

**~magicalwolfgirl**

Chapter 5 – Hunters, Dracos and Inner Feelings

Rachel

It was weird. After Finn left, I felt a big relief like I had been holding my breath. I tend to hold my breath when I feel like shifting and boy, did I want to shift. There was this weird twisting feeling in my gut that I couldn't identify.

But if it was what caused me to want to shift, I knew that it meant something, I knew I needed to get to the bottom of it and the best way to do that is to ask my fathers. I decide I am done swimming for the day and I head to the change room.

I text Hiram before entering the shower to rinse off and change, I leave the school when he arrives and enter the car. I turn to Hiram and relay what had just happened to me, the whole situation with Finn. He suddenly pulls over and he turns to me, looking shocked. "What's wrong? Why did you stop?" I ask. He says "Is there any chance that he figured out what you are?" Still confused, I say "No, I was just swimming and I checked for dragon skin on my arms and dragon eyes in my reflection from the water before. Nothing dragon-y about me when I saw him, just a weird feeling in my stomach." He gives a sigh of relief. I am still confused so I grab Hiram's arm and said "Tell me what is going on. Hiram, why are you freaking out?" He turns to me and says "You know how we usually go out about twice a month to shift and use our dragon talents?" I nod. "We have been busy lately after the move but the main and more pressing reason is that we've noticed an increase in hunters." "What does that have to do with Finn, Hiram?" "Well, your dad and I have noticed that feeling you described when a hunter is near. I don't think Finn knows he's a hunter though and his mom, Carol seems normal. I didn't have the feeling when I am near his mother."

Archeadraco hunters hunt dracos for every part of our body such as our teeth, our blood, our saliva can be used to heal various ailments, our skin can be used in furniture and the options are endless. We are also hunted for our hoards; we tend to hoard jewels, gems and gold.

"It's not genetic?" I ask. "It usually is, but I guess Finn might be an anomaly or it might have something to do with his dad whom I have never seen, I'm told he died in a war. Hopefully, Finn not having a mentor means that he won't know what the twisting feeling is and he won't develop hunter senses." He replied.

I suddenly remember that I am allowing him to try out for the team and I ask my dad what I should do. He tells me to continue with it and let him on if he is good enough because if I cancelled the tryout, I would call attention to us.

We get home and Hiram tells Leroy the bad news. Leroy, my papa, however, trying to makes us all happy, he tells us that it is finally that day. We get to release our dragons and not just get by with half fixes like the running or swimming or other physical activity. Everyone is excited; our last "midnight dragon time" was about 4 weeks ago before we moved which is a long time without a release. We typically go every two weeks or so. We decide to leave at midnight, I stay up doing homework and Papa Lee is tinkering with new recipes and such in the kitchen and daddy Hiram is playing music on the piano.

At around 11:30, everyone gets up and we all jump into the van and we drive a half hour out of town to a secluded park. After we are all out of the van and the van is locked, as a family, we run to the nearest hill and shift while running up. My dad is a forest green dragon with lighter green highlights and wings and grey eyes. My papa is a light green dragon and forest green highlights with emerald wings and navy blue eyes. I am a golden dragon with red highlights and golden wings and brown eyes.

I am so excited; I accidently let out a jet of bright blue fire. Everyone turns to me in shock and I feel the ripple of dracoling thought that connects us in my mind. There are thoughts of surprise and wonder and jealousy and finally acceptance and pride. I hear wisps of draco thought though from my dads, both saying that they are angry at me for hiding this for so long and demanding to know when I found out. They immediately wanted to find an archeadraco fire breather tutor for me but I refused. I am a fast learner and I am good with my draco gift.

I tell them that I will tell them the whole story later, now was our time to enjoy time as an archeadraco. After that, we head to different areas of the park to practice our talents. My dads look at the wildflowers, weeds and herbs and other boring stuff. I find a cave for myself and practice directing my flame on pieces of rocks. I can breathe fire for pretty long, they say the longer the dracoling or dragon, in history, can breathe fire, the more fit and mature he or she is.

I leave after about an hour and start to fly and work on some aerial manoeuvres. Flips and turns and corkscrews and dives and everything that makes my heart beat with exhilaration.

At 2, we end up meeting up at the hill, shifting back and heading home. I fall asleep in the car.

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Rachel

I enter school with a bit of a nervous jitter, not like the feeling that I get when I see Finn, just nerves. I walk towards my locker, when I am stopped by Santana, who apparently is Quinn's right hand girl and second in command in Cheerios and therefore in the school. She and a bunch of jocks and cheerleaders bring out the jumbo "Thirstquencher" cups that I have come to detest.

I am a little surprised because Brittney is usually with Santana but she was currently nowhere to be seen. I turn away as best I can as they throw the slushies at me. I feel the cold and the stickiness hit me all at once. I leave and run to the nearest washroom with the attached showers which thank goodness is pretty close, just down the hall.

I have my slushy kit in my bag and I realized that they used the blue raspberry flavour after checking the mirror. I hate blue raspberry, it makes me look like the Navi from Avatar or Smurfs in all the wrong places. The cherry stains, however, are the hardest to remove. At least, green apple tastes good but the lemon is possibly the worst, it makes you look like you peed yourself.

I check for "dragon eyes" and "dragon skin", I smile when I see that nothing has changed. I head into the shower and rush off to my locker and then to class.

Quinn

I enter school noticing that Santana had already thrown 3 slushies today. She tells me that she got the newbie (Rachel), wheelie boy (Artie), and girl Chang (Tina). I get a little internally upset with her but I understand in order to stay on top that is what had to be done. I shove my thoughts for a certain brunette away and try to distract myself by finding my boyfriend, Finn.

When I find Finn and kiss him and remind him that we have a date tonight. He asks "Where are we going?" He does that dopey smile thing makes me want to puke especially now that I've seen Rachel. "It's a surprise," I say. I get into science class where Rachel is just rushing in ahead of me and we both sit down on our spots. I stare at the back of her head for the rest of class.

Rachel

The rest of the day continues without a hitch and it gets to the time of the tryouts. When I had told the others about Finn, most of the team was really upset because of all the bullying that we all got from the popular kids particularly from the football team and the Cheerios.

I convinced them to at least let him try out; I mean if he is bad, we don't have to keep him. Besides, we need more members, I pointed out. I haven't seen Finn yet today but I keep feeling the nervous feeling in my stomach and as the day progressed, it only got worse.

I went into the change room and got prepared for the practice. When I have my suit on, my goggles and swim cap are in my hand, I head out to the pool. I see that everyone except for Finn is already there. I am glad that I had some time to compose myself when all of a sudden, the twisting feeling gets much worse and I know without turning around that Finn had just arrived. I turn and I see that he is wearing a dark blue speedo with a white swim cap and light blue goggles. I turn my eyes slightly away, trying not to make a face or puke after seeing Finn in his swim stuff and noticed that Quinn and Santana and Brittney were watching from an outer window.

Quinn meets my eyes and for a second, I think we have some sort of connection, when Santana whispers into her ear and Quinn's eyes turn cold instantly. He walks over and says "Hi, I'm Finn." He gets the names of all the members and we come to know that his favourite stroke is backstroke and his least favourite is breast stroke. I say "Okay, get ready, warm up with all strokes and we can time your 100 metre backstroke."

He nods and dives in, starting his warm up. I sneak a look at my team mates and they are all staring with their jaws on the floor. I say "Pick your jaws up, he's just okay." In my head, I have the same reaction as they do, he is pretty awesome but of course nowhere near my level. He finishes off his warm up and holds on to the wall, catching his breath.

At my mark, he begins his 100 metre backstroke and we are all surprised at his rather impressive time. He hops out smirking. My stomach sinks knowing that I have to let him on the team and I say "We will get back to you." He walks into the change room and leaves and I noticed that Quinn, Santana and Brittney were no longer watching.

When he has left, I turn to my teammates and we agree that we have to let him in despite the bullying, besides, Finn didn't do bullying of his own other than being guilty by association. None of us were particularly happy about it though but no one voiced that opinion.

However, I could read that off their faces and I say "Okay guys, let's do the practice. Go warm up guys." We all get into the pool and do individual practices. Then we critique each other's techniques and work on our artistic dives as well as our starting dives.

Finn

After the try out, I head to the change room and change into my football uniform. We had a practice today to get ready for our game on the weekend. I run over to the field and find Quinn where she was having cheer practice.

I tell her "Sorry, I was trying out for the swim team like you told me to." She turns to me and says "How did you get them to agree to give you a tryout? How did you do?" I reply, "I reminded them that they could say no if I was bad. I knew I was good enough to make it. And I reminded them that they needed more members to compete. I've been swimming since I was a kid for goodness sake so of course I did awesome!" "Awesome!" she says, "Phase one of our plan is in motion. Next, figure out their weaknesses and get to know Rachel. I need to take her down if we want to stay on top. Is there any chance of them making it?" "Maybe, I haven't seen anyone else in the pool besides Rachel. She was awesome though. Like I only saw her starting dives but they were pretty awesome technically. Is there any way to decrease some of the bullying for now so I can get them to trust me?" I asked cautiously. Quinn furrows her brow and appears to think. She replies "I guess I could get Santana to slow down for now. But we need to keep up appearances, I tell her to cut it down to once or twice a week." "I understand", I say.

The rest of practice is gruelling mostly because I am not paying attention. I was thinking about how to get to Rachel and how to get her to be mine.

Quinn

I don't think anyone has figured out about my crush on Rachel but then Brittney said something offhandedly when we were watching Finn's tryout. Santana had been whispering mean things about Rachel and I had been trying to act normal, cold, HBIC. She was calling her all sorts of names from Hobbit (she may be short but with those legs that go on forever and those big brown eyes and luscious brown hair, oh my, what am I thinking), Man hands (her hands are the perfect size and shape and not at all manly) and Treasure trail and Brittney said in her bouncy bubbly way, "San, stop making fun of Quinn and Rach. She looks hot and if you don't stop, I am withholding my sweet lady kisses with you. Everyone can see that Quinn loves Rach."

We both turned to face Brittney so fast that we heard cracking in our necks. And I just said "What, there's nothing." Brittney and Santana share this glance, Santana seems to want to make another mean quip when Brittney says "Remember, no making fun or I'm not kissing you." and they walk off, holding pinkies while Finn had come to talk to me.

I was flabbergasted. When had Britt even had time to talk to Rach and how had Britt even known of my feelings before I could process them myself. I thought that I might have given it away in the way I looked when I mentioned that we should stop bullying Rachel.

Then afterward Finn said the same thing, he looked a little distracted and had that face that meant that he was doing something he wasn't supposed to. He must have been thinking about something else because he didn't notice my pause. I thought quickly and brushed it off and told him we still need to keep our rep.

We, the Cheerios are the top dogs at William McKinley and as the head cheerleader, I am the queen. I guess it was believable because he agreed, maybe it's because I'm his girlfriend but whatever. I hope that Finn will come through; I want to get to know her. I want her to be mine but I didn't want to lose it all. All through the practice, I keep getting lost in my thoughts of her.

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**AN2: Review and Follow! I'd love to hear from you all and waste more of my study time to write and reply to you guys! (I don't actually want to study :P) **


	6. Did He Just Ask Me Out?

**Author's Note: Hey everyone. Sorry the update has been late and not daily like the first couple chapters but I have been busy with my 4 exams in 4 days and the latest chapter had a bunch of alterations. And there's been a nasty guest commenter. Thanks a lot bro, I'm sure you're an awesome author. Plus the fact that I think her having sex with Puck is the fastest way to get her head out of her butt in terms of coming to terms with her sexuality. I mean I would think a Christian raised person wouldn't just accept that he or she is homosexual without some sort of experimentation. Anyway, other awesome readers and reviewers, thanks for the attention and hope to hear from you and hope that you will keep reading.**

**Until next time, **

**~magicalwolfgirl**

Chapter 6 – Did he just ask me out?

Finn

I stay late after swim practice on Thursday, I manage to convince Rachel to come to the football game on Saturday. I tell her that she can invite the rest of the swim team and her friends. I tell her we are probably going to hang out as a team afterwards. If we win, there is going be a big celebration, if we don't, it would just be to hang out and to have fun.

She says in a sort of ashamed way "I don't really have friends besides the swim team." I look at her in shock. "Why not?" I say. She replies "I don't know but I guess people here don't like me." I am even more shocked and I close my mouth and walk her to class as I whisper to myself, "well, I like you."

She turns to me and smiles. I am weak in the knees as I realize that she must have heard me. It isn't until second period when I remember that I had a nervous feeling in my stomach that I have come to only feel around Rachel.

I wonder why for the millionth time.

Quinn

I know that Finn has a thing for Rachel but I know I want her too. Like just seeing Rachel in her swim suit when I went to go watch Finn's tryout for the team, I nearly wanted to puke looking at Finn but Rachel. Man, just the way that the swim suit made her legs go on for miles and the way she was practically naked and the material just clung to her breasts.

Santana teases her all the time and makes fun of how flat she is but wow, maybe she wasn't wearing those ugly animal argyle sweaters but that might just be my favourite outfit on Rachel Berry. Whoa, where did that thought come from? I can't be a lesbian, I can't like girls. I am the president of the celibacy club, which of course, was to impress my father. In reality, instead of abstinence, I just want to push Rachel onto a table or a door and just make the angels cry. Anyway, my dad would kill me and for that reason, I am hugely jealous of Finn.

And that is when I have an idea; Puck is having a party tonight at his house. I text him, "I'm in for the party." I run out of my house yelling to my parents that I will be sleeping over at Santana's and hanging out with Brittney and Santana for the night which is not really a lie since they will be at Puck's as well.

Maybe the reason that I was going for Rachel was because Finn wasn't the right guy for my maiden voyage. Maybe Puck might be a better choice.

Rachel

When Finn came to ask me about the soccer game, I was really worried. I thought that someone might be sneaking up on me to slushy me or that it was some kind of joke. It turned out that it wasn't a joke and luckily I didn't get slushied, I had forgotten my emergency slushy kit.

I know what Hiram said about Finn and the hunters but don't they say "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer"? Plus I am a lot smarter than Finn, he's not really a smart guy by any mark so I figured I could figure it out and take care of myself. I figure it isn't a bad thing and so I agree to go to the game. I am upset about the whole social aspect of school; I had expected to be in the middle. Not popular, but not on the bottom either but I am getting used to it.

But going to this soccer game might give me a chance to meet new friends so I jump on the opportunity. I am worried about telling my fathers though, but they don't know about the bullying and the slushying so there is that at least. I hate when people pity me especially my fathers, it would probably mean them pulling me out of school. Anyway, it means less convincing for me.

I go to class, science when I realize for the first time since classes began that Quinn has made it to class before me. Instead of chatting with her popular friends, I noticed her staring at me. When she makes eye contact, she grins really widely. I simply look confused.

Quinn

After Finn tells me in a text message that he was able to convince Rachel to come to this Saturday's game, I rush to science class so I will be there before she gets there which means I am there really early. Really early for me is 10 minutes before I need to be. I take out my iPhone and checking Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and stuff while I wait. Rachel usually enters about 5 minutes before the class starts so I stop playing and I wait patiently to see her.

I must have started daydreaming because the next thing I notice is a pair of smallish yet perfectly sized feet in a gorgeous pair of red flats attached to black skinny jean clad legs with a red tank and a black blazer that could only belong to one Rachel Berry. I look up and I see that she has her long chestnut brown hair in a side braid and she didn't wear makeup today. I noticed that after the first couple days she stopped wearing makeup because of the slushies. Still, she is so beautiful. I meet her chocolate brown eyes and I can't stop the grin spreading across my face. It spread even wider after she smiled back. My smile was so big, it could probably cure cancer.

I was so concentrated that I did not notice Santana staring beside me.

Santana

I knew something was going on. Starting with this morning, Quinn got really excited after reading a text. I have no idea what it was about. She rushes to class early. EARLY! Quinn never, NEVER goes to class early. So I follow her in, science is the only class we have together. Suddenly, about 5 minutes before class begins, she stops fiddling with her phone. I am more and more on edge knowing that something is up. I look up. And I see it.

She is staring at Rachel, the new girl with the stupid swim team, her own personal team of bottom dwellers. When I say she is staring, she is really looking, she's looking so hard, her eyes are practically popping out of her head. I have never seen that big a smile on her face, not when she was with me at least.

I text Azimio and Karofsky telling them to slushy Rachel, I put a target on Rachel's back and I tell them slushy her. They texts me back saying yes, they owed me from this little thing that was in the past now. Back in elementary school, they had been making fun of Brittney. I didn't know about it and Britt had never told me but one time I watched it happen. I ran in kneeing Karofsky in the crotch and then Azimio. That day, I became Britt's best friend and her knight in shining armor and that was the day I started to admit that I liked her. From then on, it was our agreement that Karofsky and Azimio would do anything I asked or I would bring out Snix and go all Lima Heights on them again.

Anyway, my point is I only need to sit through 2 more classes and Rachel is going to get the slushying of her lifetime.

Rachel

I have learned to avoid the hallways before lunch time and before classes begin as well as afterschool. It is far better to stay behind in classes a couple minutes than risk going outside to the hallway. These are the times that slushying or the majority of the bullying occurs.

Today, I was so preoccupied by the soccer game and Finn and the jittery hunter feeling in my stomach that I leave class and go to my locker at lunch time. I get to my locker and exchange my books. I bend over to put my books in my bag and straighten up to pick up my lunch when I notice I am surrounded by a ring of jocks led by Azimio and Karofsky. They pull out the biggest size of "thirstquenchers" known to man and chuck it at me.

I rush to block my books in my locker with my body, I do not want to be cleaning them off and having to pay for the ruined textbooks. And there was the secret box of books that I kept in the bottom of my locker. When suddenly, Quinn rushes over and takes the slushy for me. I look between the three, confused and shocked when suddenly Karofsky freezes and Azimio and the other jocks rush to run away.

I figure that they are surprised because Quinn took the slushy but I turn to my locker mirror and realize what he saw. My eyes are glittering back with specks of green and gold. My dragon eyes are showing. I look down and see my slightly glittery golden skin. I slam my locker closed and run as I attempt to control myself and push the archeadraco back.

I hear the pounding of my feet on the floor and I am lost in my thoughts. Why did Quinn take it for me? She had never been anything but mean; she had never done anything nice for me. I tear myself from my thoughts as I hear running behind me, I peek and see Quinn behind me and we both run to the nearest washroom.

Noah Puckerman

I wasn't throwing the slushy but I was in the ring when it happened. I blink. Did I just see what I think I saw? Her eyes are glittering. And Quinn took the slushy for her. I try to convince myself that it was nothing; she must have been wearing contacts or something. And her glittering skin, maybe she reapplied make-up before the slushy fest? Girls do that, right?

Santana runs up to me. She's angry, I can tell by the way she is standing and how her eyes look. I may be stupid at school stuff but I know this at least. I say "What's wrong?" She glares at me and yells "You were supposed to do it when I am here. You did it too early. I wanted to see her flail and be all depressed and then I could taunt her and call her names" I step back from her, slightly scared and say "Sorry. I didn't mean to do it without you. Why is everyone still here? There's nothing to look at! Go away!"

I smile as everyone scurries away and I reach for her hand. She lets me hold it and she looks into my eyes and says "I think Quinn likes her. I'm confused. I think she wants her but she's afraid of her parents…It kinda reminds me of me. " She collapses into tears, clinging on me. I tell her in a quiet voice, "Follow your heart, forget about what your parents think, forget what these losers will think. In a couple years, we'll all be out of here anyway."

I soothe her by rubbing her back and Brittney runs up. I stand up and she comes to take my place. I may seem like a jerk, a bad-ass but I am good to my friends. I know that Santana and Quinn for that matter, has parents who do not care about her. That's why she tries to act above everyone at school. She figures that if she can do all those things, she can get her parents to care. I know that it won't, I know that they only care for their own reputations and themselves. After all, her family is a broken family like mine. My dad left us. It's just my mom, my sister and I, it turns out that my dad is a drunk. I act like I do because everyone treats me like I will end up like him, I try to do well in school to prove them wrong but I am not smart but it will work out some day.

Rachel

I can't believe it. Quinn of all people. She took the slushy for me. And now we are in the washroom and she is literally covered with red corn syrup, ice dripping down her uniform top. I mean, other than all those times I had caught her staring at me, Quinn had never paid any attention to me other than to make fun of me.

I turn to her hesitantly "Can I help you clean up? I'm a master at slushy cleanup." She seems to want to decline but realizing that cleaning up on her own would take much longer, she gives me a tight smile and nods. I made sure to have my draco under control when I touch her face and I feel a jolt from my draco. That is when I knew, I wanted her and my draco did too.

Quinn

Rachel is touching me. RACHEL IS TOUCHING ME. Her hands, they are soft and little and all I could think about were her hands on my body. How they would feel when they were on my face when we were kissing. I close my eyes and breathe in the scent that is Rachel. The chlorine and the fruity scent, strawberries, I think. It would just be like Berry to smell like a berry.

Before I could think further, Rachel brings a wet paper towel to my face to wipe off the ice chunks. It was all I could do to keep from pressing my body towards her and I put my hand on hers, taking the paper towel away. I say "Thank you, I've got it from here."

Rachel

"Thank you, I haven't the slightest idea as to why you did that for me but I would like you" I say sincerely. "Berry!" she interrupts, "the thank you was enough." We both smile awkwardly. "Right, I'm sorry, I tend to talk more when I'm nervous and…" "I make you nervous?" she interrupts again and our eyes lock. Santana and Brittney suddenly come barrelling into the washroom and Santana crosses her arms over her chest and sneers. "What the hell, Q? You took a slushy for Berry?" Quinn glances away and clearly looks uncomfortable. I interrupt, "I have a name, you know. Not Hobbit or Berry or Manhands…" "You do?" Santana snarks. "Yeah, it's Rachel. Anyway, I saw the jocks coming and I saw Quinn walking towards us as well, I instinctively ducked behind her. I didn't think that they would slushy her to get to me but I was wrong and it was my fault." "Shut up, Berry!" Santana interrupts, "I stopped listening after you said it was your fault, the rest was all blah blah blah. Q, We're late for cheerleading practice." She turns to me and glares, "I hope you're paying for the Quinn's dry cleaning bill." I nod and grin my million watt smile. Quinn replies "It's okay, we get free dry cleaning, Rach." I feel my stomach flip as I noticed she had called me a nickname that wasn't a mean one. Santana shouts, "Let's go Q, I'm bored," as she stomps out of the washroom. Quinn winks and thanks me for helping her with the slushy. I stop her by placing a hand on the door, she freezes. "Does this mean we are friends? I ask. She nods and I am in a daze. "You can move your hand now." She says and I start in shock and remove my hand. Today, Finn has football practice so he didn't join us for swim team practice, so I ask my friends about the game but they had all heard about the slushying so they were afraid. So I said, "Okay, let's start over. I am freaking out guys. I think Finn likes me. Does it count as him asking me out if he said I could bring friends? Does it count as a date if it's just a soccer game?" They stare at me blankly and burst out laughing. Kurt says "You freaking out is strangely funny." Artie laughs "Yeah, you talk a mile a minute." Tina stutters "Dddooo you lililike him?" I reply, "Eh, I'm not sure. I think he's cute but I don't think I have a chance with him. Plus he's kinda dumb and I think he's not my type, if you know what I mean, I like Quinn more." Everyone stops and stares at me with wide eyes and opened mouths. They said "What? Really?" Kurt says, "But she's with Finn." "I know, but I had this moment with her. When I first got here and again today, she was looking at me and she smiled. And I can't help but smile back. Even after the slushies and the bullying. I'm going crazy. Everyone shakes their head. Kurt says "We all have had or have crushes on the popular kids. I mean, they look fantastic. However, some of us here don't have a chance. But you. You are beautiful and gorgeous, if you didn't just come this year and if you didn't hang out with us, you probably would be on top. Which is why you're awesome for staying with us, you could probably work to get to the top but you gave all that up and hang out with bottom dwellers like us." Everyone nods. I say "And then today, she took that slushy for me." They all look at me in shock. Tina says "wwwwellll that has never happppppennned before." There's a kind of awkward silence where we are all thinking of something to say when I blurt, "You guys can't think of yourselves that way. You need to be a part of something great and you will become something great. Help me make the swim team great!" In the end, I tell them to stop wasting time and start swimming and they all agree to join me at the game.


	7. The Game

**Author's Note**

**I'M DONE EXAMSSSSS well until April at least. And I have about 3 weeks of winter break so I will be back to posting pretty often. Hopefully, if I get enough motivation to write. I know a bunch of you have not been liking the whole idea of Quick sex so I worked it through a little. Hopefully, you guys like what I have done. Again, I don't own Glee and any of these characters nor Sophie Jordan's Firelight (though I borrowed her dragon/human hybrid idea slightly) and if there are any mistakes, I apologize, I have no beta and I am human and I make mistakes. **

**Reviewers**

**Anon: I am not going to remove the story from Rachel/Finn fic section because the majority of the the story will be Finchel anyway. And technically the name is there because Finn is a big part of the story its just that the pairing is Faberry which is clearly indicated by the square brackets and in the summary so if you wanted a Finchel story then look elsewhere. **

**gllover22: there we go, no experimentation. I know that some people know that they are clearly gay or lesbian. Maybe it's the scientist in me. Anyway, no experimentation works out better for me, I can keep more true to my original story. **

**Hope you guys enjoy and Review, Favourite and Follow cuz I totally appreciate it and it makes me happy and I will want to write more with some encouragement.**

* * *

Chapter 7 – The Game

Rachel

Today is the day of the soccer game. I told Finn I would go but in reality, I was going to watch Quinn who was cheerleading. I don't care that she is with Finn. Or at least that is what I am telling myself. And plus, Quinn and I are friends now.

Ever since I meant her, I felt drawn to her in a way I had never felt before; I make a note to ask my parents about that. Like if it was just love or whatever draco thing.

Convincing my parents to let me go was easier than I thought. I guess they decided it would be good for my social life to meet up with people my age. I got to the game, found my friends and picked out a spot where we could all sit together and where Artie could sit beside us in his wheelchair and see the game. Finn waves at me so I wave back. He smiles widely and I just have a sheepish grin on which widens as Quinn catches my eye. I look back at Finn and I see him look kind of confused but he seems to shake his head and give up on trying to figure it out, at least for at the moment.

I turn away and pretend to be interested in the warm ups that the teams as well as the cheerleaders are doing.

Finn

It's the day of the soccer game and I grabbed breakfast, my bag and a couple bottles of Gatorade and run out of the door. I jump into my mom's car and she drives to the school. She says good luck as she goes to park the car. I run to the field and see that Rachel had just arrived. I waved and smiled when she waved back. She smiles bigger, I turn and notice Quinn and I feel my stomach burn with jealousy.

I heard somewhere that Quinn took a slushy for her last week and that they were now friends. I get that I should be caring about Quinn since she's my girl but I don't seem to want her anymore, I want Rachel.

It was my first game of the year so I was nervous and as soon as I saw Rachel, the jitters got worse. I really need to do some research about that. My mom didn't know when I asked her, she figured it was just the feeling of love. Apparently, my father had been killed in the war but I had never known him, I was just a baby at the time. I wonder if it has something to do with him. I pull my team together to give them a pep talk, some fighting words.

When they are all here, I say "Kay, guys! It's our first game this year, let's do coach proud and win this game. Play hard and stay strong. Titans on three. One, two, TITANS!" We broke the huddle and those of us who were starting ran out on the field. We agreed before the coin toss that if I had won it, we would take first ball since it was a pretty windless day.

We ended up winning which is awesome.

Quinn

The day after the party is the football game. I was going to have sex with Puck but I saw him and I couldn't follow through. We were kissing and it was quickly getting hotter and moving faster than I wanted. I just felt sick about it and I withdrew from a kiss, Puck instantly knew something was wrong and he stopped me. He looked at my face and said "Quinn, what's wrong." I try to avoid the question and push myself into a sitting position and swing my legs off the bed. He gets off and kneels in front of me so I have no room to get up. He tilts my chin up so that I meet his eyes and he asks the same question again this time adding that he knew me well enough to know that something is wrong. My eyes widened, realizing that he had been watching me. I break down and answer him "I can't do this. You deserve someone who will love you back. You deserve someone who is perfect for you. I can't give you that, Puck." He nods and replies "I know that you don't feel that way about me. I've been staring a lot because I love you. At first, I was jealous of Finn but then the new girl." "Her name is Rachel," I interject. "Yeah, Rachel, I know her from synagogue. Anyway, ever since she got here, you stare at her. They way Finn used to stare at you and you used to pretend to stare at Finn. Now Finn looks at Rachel and you do too. By the way, she can't stop talking about you." I laugh. "What me?" "Yeah, especially after you took that slushy for her yesterday," he shoots back. "What you guys talk every day? How do you guys talk, like I mean, there wasn't even synagogue yesterday right?" I ask. "Yeah, she's pretty cool. Actually really good with video games, we hang and play sometimes. We have each other's numbers and yeah we hang out." "Oh my! I am so jealous!"

The conversation went on and from then, I knew that Puck would help me with Rachel; I loved him for not forcing me into it. I told him, that I may not have been the right girl but there was one waiting for him somewhere, he just had to be patient.

The next day, following the football team's win, we went to our team's favourite restaurant to celebrate along with the cheerleaders. My stomach rolls when I notice that Finn brings Rachel. I am red with jealousy and Santana walks ahead of me because I had stopped without noticing. She notices, turns back and sees the expression on my face. She says "You like her right?" I nod. And in that second, Santana says "We don't have to be here and watch her mash her face with Finnocence. Let's just leave."

I nod gratefully, not trusting my voice because all I really want to do is yell at Finn and lunge at him and beat him so that no one would recognize him. Santana calls for Brittney who skips over. She whispers into Brittney's ear about the situation and we leave. I feel Rachel's eye on my back but I don't turn because if I do then I wouldn't be able to stop myself from running into her arms and claiming her in front of everyone.

Finn

I am so glad we won that game. Phase one of woo Rachel is complete. Phase two, get to know her. This is no longer about Quinn, I want her, I want Rachel for myself and I knew I had to break up with Quinn tomorrow. Rachel saw me waiting for my mom to drive us to the restaurant and she offered me a ride. I internally fist pump and say yes. I hop in and her dad drives to the restaurant and we start to talk. I get to know her family. Hiram and Leroy Berry are her parents. She tells me about how they spend a lot of time together and get along really well. I tell her about my mom, Carol Hudson. Maybe I should ask her about him, maybe he had wrote in a journal or a diary or left something behind that I could read and figure out the "Rachel jitters".

I learn about her swimming experiences, how she was swimming since childhood and recently had gotten onto the Californian Team. She moved from Canada about 2 months ago and used to be on the Canadian swim team. She turned out to be a soccer player, she plays goalie and defense. She had been on her school's soccer and swim team.

I tell her about my swimming abilities and funny stories and otherwise joke around and flirt with her. We get to the restaurant. I get out of my side of the car and run over to her side, opening the door and giving her a hand out. I may not have had a father but I sure know how to take care of a girl. She smiles and keeps a hold on my hand. That was unexpected and made my heart sing.

It was the best night of my life.

* * *

Rachel

I like Quinn but being with Finn was unexpectedly good. I know that he is a hunter but he doesn't know about his potential yet, he knows nothing about being a hunter. Plus he paid attention to me first, especially when Quinn slushied me when I first got here. Spending time with him at the moment would be good, I want more friends and maybe when he realizes what he is and remembering the time we spent together would keep us safe. Besides, I can't think of a reason to reject him.

Anyway, I got out of bed and began to get ready for school. Hiram reminds me as I am leaving that tonight was a "dragon clan meet". Dragons in the area will meet in a park about an hour away and the adult dragons will vote and discuss various topics. We get to fly and train with dragons that are of the same age. Sometimes, we meet with dragons of the same abilities and we train with them. This is the first one where my fire breathing status will be revealed, fire breathers tend to become leaders of the clan. I'm excited about training with some fire breathers and meeting other dragons my age. My dads want to hook me up with another fire breather since it is more likely to produce other fire breathers.

I'm not so excited about that, I want to find someone I truly love and Quinn pops into my mind. I wave it away, Quinn is popular and she would never go for me. I heard that her father is a total homophobe and was already spreading rumours about my fathers. Quinn and I are keeping our friendship a secret; she usually only invites me over when they aren't home or comes over saying that she is at Santana's or at Brittney's. Not that it matters, the four of us have been hanging out a lot lately. Quinn isn't an archeadraco and she doesn't know our secrets. Anyway, enough daydreaming, Hiram just drove into the school's parking lot.

At my locker, I am greeted by the sight of Finn. Today, he is wearing a red v-neck t-shirt which makes his eyes pop, along with black jeans. His floppy brown hair flops adorably over his eyes. He offers to help me with this textbooks and I let him. Maybe I shouldn't be doing this whole thing, the whole letting him believe that he is my boyfriend but for now I think it is okay. He's just my friend after all; I'm glad that someone cares about me. But I have to be careful too because of his hunter status and because no one knows about how archeadracos can shift to human form. If this secret, our most valuable secret, came out then hunters would have more power and know how to better hunt us. Finn takes my hand and he pulls me to a stop. He says "Is there anything wrong? You seem distracted." I reply "Sorry, I have a lot on my mind." He nods understandingly and drops me off at my class, science. Quinn isn't here yet so I walk to my seat and sit down and get ready for class to begin.

Quinn

Finn broke up with me via text. It kind of makes me wonder what I had ever seen in him. Of course, it is then that I remember that I was with him because of my father. By this point, I knew that I was bisexual in the least and that I definitely had a crush on Rachel. At least, Finn breaking up with me meant that I was free to pursue her, albeit a little in secret because of my dad but for now it was better than nothing. We just had to keep it together for the rest of our time in Lima with Rachel's swimming ability she would get out of Lima for sure. I am at the top of my class, so I was pretty certain I would be able to get out too. I just had to convince her to let me date her. At least for the time being, we were friends, but I was falling deeper and deeper for her and it was getting harder and harder for me not to kiss her.

I walk towards my locker which is across the hall from Rachel's when I freeze seeing Finn and Rachel together. They are holding hands. I am in a rage. I stride past my locker to Coach Sylvester's office where I convince her to get someone to teach me out to swim so that I could join the swim team. She looked at me with a confused look but then I point out that I could quit the team if she didn't agree. She realized that she needed me and she says "Look Q. The moment I saw you, I thought you were just like a young Sue Sylvester. I like the way you think! Now get out of here so that you can learn how not to drown." I go to class and I stare at Rachel, hoping that will help me to feel better. But then I shake my head at myself, she was probably straight after all; I mean she is with Finn.

At lunch, I see Finn and Rachel together and my stomach turns. I get so mad that I tell Santana to slushy Finn and she gets Karofsky and Azimio to right in the main hallway. Rachel, her team of misfits see this and she rushes to him to help him clean up and my hopes are dashed. I run outside and look for something to punch. Santana comes and says "Q, what do I need to do? What do you want me to do about that kid?" I reply jokingly, "Plant something in his locker and get him expelled." Santana nods and comes over, giving me a hug, she doesn't want the whole school knowing but she actually cares, only Britt and I know this and now Rachel is starting to get to know this because she hangs out with us now. "I'm glad I can depend on you, Santana" "Whatever you need, Q, we aren't best friends for nothing. Besides I like the chance to beat up Finnosaurous" I begin to cry and I say "I'm just so mad! If I had been straight with her, it would be me that she is with but I had to be all repressed. But now she's with stupid Finnessa." Santana is shushing me and soothing me by patting my back. This is one time I am glad that Brittney is with her now, it has made her more caring and less of a badass (don't tell her I said that). Even if it is in secret, it had taken a long time for them to get together, mainly because Santana was nearly as repressed as I am. But Britt is good for her, she is patient and you can clearly see the love. I want that with Rachel. I just want her so bad.

Finn

I know how Quinn looks at Rachel. I get slushied but that look on her face when Rachel comes to help me made it worth it. She cleans me up and we hold hands as we walk to class. She asks "Why did get slushied? What did she say to you?" I tell her everything, about Quinn and I breaking up, about me liking her except for the part about Quinn liking her. She says "So what do you think then?" I reply, "I am glad that you picked me. But I want to know that you are in this." She says "I would have thought you would have properly asked me. I am a romantic, you know?" She smiles and I smile back. "Okay that means yes, right. You're willing to give me a chance?" I say. She nods. I scowl cutely "Argh, now I have to think of the perfect way to ask you out" She bursts out in laughter.

Later, I get slushied again. I hadn't brought extra clothes besides my gym clothes which are already sweaty from practice this morning and gym class. I guess I was so happy that I'd rather be in slushy tie-dye than stinky gym clothes.


	8. Will you be my Girlfriend?

**Author's Note: Well here's the next chapter, as for Rachel and Quinn dancing around each other, Rachel doesn't yet know that Quinn is also into girls and the same goes for vice versa. And Rachel is currently enjoying the attention from Finn and it's helping with her self esteem. I mean he was the first one to pay any kind of attention to her. But Quinn was a close second what with taking the slushy for her, but they don't want to lose each other as friends so neither of them want to take the first step. Just a warning, for Faberry fans that it will be at least a couple more chapters before anything happens between them and any Finchel fans can enjoy the next couple chapters. **

**gllover22 - huh I feel like you're the only one reviewing now and I am totally appreciative :) totally sorry about the Kayla/Micah names, I'm terrible. It's cuz I changed the names of my characters in my novel but personality wise they are still the Glee characters. if that happens again Kayla is Rachel, Micah is Finn and Eli would be Quinn. And don't worry they will work their things out and I promise they will get together :) hopefully I won't lose you because I keep dragging this out **

**~magicalwolfgirl**

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Chapter 8 – Dragon meet

Rachel

As we typically do when we go to the dragon nights and for dragon meets, my dads come home early to make us dinner. After dinner, I work on my homework and my parents go to work on something, watch TV or take a nap. Anyway on this particular night since I had finished all my homework, I decided to watch movies and at least catch a couple hours of sleep before we had to run out.

At around 12, we head to the car and in a half hour, we pull into the driveway at the park. I look around and notice that a couple of the cars look familiar, like I have seen them somewhere but I couldn't think where I saw them. We left the car and shifted to our dragon forms.

We head to the mountains that we typically meet up at and as we approach, I notice something that looks familiar. Actually, it wasn't just one thing, it was pairs of eyes. There is a shimmery blue dragon with grey-green eyes that looked awfully like Artie's eyes who didn't seem to have full use of his legs, a black dragon with angled dark brown eyes, only Tina had eyes like that due to her Asian heritage, I thought I saw Kurt's grey-green-blue eyes on a red and black dragon and Mercedes's dark brown eyes on a purple dragon.

Suddenly, through the dragon mind speak, I hear voices that sound like my friends from school, they said "Is that you, Rachel?" in a cacophony of familiar voices. I say "Yes" in a shocked voice. My dads say "You know them?"

Being new to this meet meant we didn't know anyone. I nod and squeal because I realize that they are my friends and that they are archeadracos. Like me! My parents look at their parents and are wide eyed with surprise as they realize that all their parents live near us or they had met them sometime recently. I ask "Lee, Hiram, how can this be? Why are there so many people that I know?" Leroy says, "I think I know. There's this thing that is really rare. It's like the bond that binds you to your soul mate but it concerns the people you surround yourselves with, your friends." Hiram continues, "You are more likely to be drawn to dracos to become friends with. It's pretty rare and I guess that's why we didn't tell you and why we didn't realize that about our new friends either. I guess it means we are good at hiding our secrets which is good; we have to keep doing what we are doing to keep our secrets, secret."

We nod and my friends and I head to the top of the mountain where we jump and begin to fly. In the dragon mind meld, I get to know my friends more. Mercedes is an enviro dragon which explains her ability to match with the crowd but also the way she made an environment for herself. Tina is a shade dragon. Her gift makes him interested in magic and she's actually good at it. However, because of her nerdy obsession with magic, she was rejected by kids at school. It also explained the times when Tina dressed in capes and like a vampire, it was when her gift was revealed and first manifested. Artie turns out to be a healer; he actually reveals that he has been self-healing but that it was a slow process since he is still discovering his abilities. He discloses that he was a quadriplegic as a result of the car crash when he was eight, regained used of his hands and is beginning to regain feeling in his legs. Kurt is a speed dragon, he was popular and on the track and field team and football when he came out and became a social pariah.

We spend about an hour just hanging out and flying and getting to know each other as archeadracos. We were in such shock, we knew that we liked spending time with each other but we never knew that we were carrying the same secret, well they knew that about each other but I didn't know about them and they didn't know about me.

Afterwards, we spent about an hour with our specific types of archeadracos so I walked over to the fire breathers. There was one or two who were younger than me and 3 who were older. We spent time breathing fire and controlling our flame.

After about an hour, our dads and the other older dragons had finished their discussion and brought us in to give out instructions. We were offered a book for each person in our family. This was a treasured dragon book; each one is unique and is given to a meet member when they are approved to join. I still had mine from previous clans; they were why I always protect my locker when I am slushied in front of it. They are too important to be destroyed by slushy, they are prized possessions and meant to be kept with you at all times. Anyway, it is always an honour to get one and most clans do not give them out on the first clan meet. There's always a party afterwards and a ceremony where the head dragon of the clan presents you with your book. Needless to say, it was a while before we got home that day and I had fallen asleep in the car on the way home.

* * *

Finn

Over the weekend, I thought of the perfect idea. I begin to put in motion by going to school early. I start at Rachel's locker since it is where she usually goes to first when she gets to school. I place a heart shaped post-it note on the front saying "Open me!"

Next, I open her locker and put another heart shaped post-it note on top of the mirror that she tends to look at after opening her locker saying "Hey beautiful, go outside, to the soccer field."

I get one of my freshman friends whom I play soccer with to wait with another heart shaped post-it note which says "Go to where I decided to be your knight in shining armour and where you chose me."

There, in the cafeteria, I had another of my soccer playing freshman friends waiting with a final heart shaped post-it that said "Go to where we first met".

There, at the pool is where I am waiting in black dress pants, fancy black shoes, an emerald green shirt and a forest green tie. Topped off with a black blazer and a bunch of flowers in hand, I am nervously pacing at first because I didn't know when she would show up or if she would show up at all. I spent all of last night looking at flowers and picking the perfect ones to say what I mean when I can't say them out loud. And some of the morning picking and buying the flowers I needed at the florist and tagging them appropriately.

About 20 minutes later, she appears and she is the most beautiful girl with her blond hair slightly curled, she is in flats with a blue knee length skirt and a billowy white off the shoulder top, underneath a dark purple tank top peeked out. She sees me and the most glorious smile spreads across her face. She comes down to meet me and I hand her the calla lily saying "A beautiful flower to match the most beautiful girl in the world. Read the inscription on the flower, beautiful." She blushes and ducks her head still smiling cutely before turning the tag on the flower. She reads aloud "I am a calla lily and I mean beauty. This symbolizes your beauty." I look at her shyly and say "Some people think I am dumb, maybe I am but I'm going to try my best to please you, to make you happy. I find it hard to say what I mean sometimes. My mom is a florist and she tells me about flowers and their hidden meanings. I hope that you get my message, Rachel." She nods and she starts saying something when I place one finger on her lips. I say "Hold on, beautiful, I am not done yet." I breathe in deeply and let it out before continuing, "I know we have only just met but when I saw you, I felt drawn to you." I hand her a primrose which means I can't live without you. "You are beautiful. That day that you picked me was the best day of my life. I can't live without you, Rachel." I pull out mistletoe which means kiss me and I hand it to her saying "Kiss me? I need encouragement for the next part.

She kisses me deeply and as the kiss finishes, I sink to one knee bringing out a blue square box and open it. Inside, nestled in the box rests a green watermelon flavoured ring-pop, blue is her favourite colour, but she preferred watermelon ring pops rather than blue raspberry ring-pops. I did my research and I know these things about her. I continue handing a white violet with a tag that read "Let's take a chance", "Rachel; I want you to be mine. I want to have a future with you. Will you be my girlfriend?" I see her scared eyes, I bring out a red tulip, the tag reads "I am a red tulip; tulips are given to the perfect lover. Red tulips in particular mean believe me and they are a declaration of love. This is me tell you that I am telling the truth, that I truly love you and I mean every word that I say." She nods, not trusting herself to speak as her eyes were watery. I pull her to me and place the ring pop on the forth finger of her left hand. "Dance with me?"

We dance until the bell rings, we kiss and I walk her to class holding her hand. Smiling in that super happy awestruck way as if we were the only two people in the world, because at that moment, we were. We were the only two people that mattered in my world.

Quinn

I entered the school as usual, walking by Rachel's locker and turning the opposite direction to mine when suddenly I realize something is different on her locker. I look and I see a sticky note. I have seen that writing before and in a couple seconds, it dawns on me. It is Finn's writing. I rush to the nearest freshman football player that I have seen hanging out with Finn and grab him the shoulders. I shake him slightly to get his attention and yell "Where is Finn?" He stares at me wide-eyed and gapes at me like a fish. I enunciate slowly "Where. Is. Finn. Tell me now or I will call Santana and she will slushy you until you become an iceberg." He whimpers "Please don't hurt me." I raise my hand with my finger poised on my phone's keypad. "Her number is speed dial 3, don't push me, freshmeat!" He shrieks and yells "He's at the pool."

I drop him to the floor as I had picked him up by his collar and pushed him against the wall and I ran in that direction of the pool. For once, I was almost glad about Coach Sue's crazy workouts. I enter the viewing area and I saw all that happened. I leave as they were dancing and I run to the outside of the school, I sprint around the track a couple times. After about 10 minutes, I collapse on the track, feeling the synthetic material dig into my shins and my knees.

Then I notice arms wrapped around me, I look up and I see Santana. She says "Cap, we are the HBICs in this place. What do you want me to do to the bottom-dwellers?" I look away and say "Nothing, I can't take anything more from Finn anyway," in a dead sounding voice. She stares at me and says "Q, are you sure?" I reply, "She picked. It was my fault; I shouldn't have sent him to do my dirty work. I should have just gone for it. But instead I valued my stupid popularity all because I didn't want to get slushied. Like I don't even understand, getting slushied isn't so bad." Santana interjects "It is bad. You get stained a different colour, it runs into places that I don't want to mention and your eyes burn for the next couple hours. And it's like be slapped by an iceberg. And not only that but the humiliation is the worst, it's like you instantly lose yourself." I snap, "Okay, fine that sucks but instead of following my heart and my gut, instead of doing what I know is right, I decide to be an idiot. No. This is only my fault." Santana comes over and rubs my back saying "So Q, does this liking the hobbit make you a lesbian or bisexual?" I think, "I don't know, like Rachel is the only girl I can think of loving, she's the only one I feel this for and I mean I did like Finn, sort of. Fine! Not really at all. But I liked Puck, just not enough to give him anything else. So maybe I'm a oncebian?" I laugh and Santana laughs, "I made you laugh so now I'm happy, anyway, Q. You are not stupid. You have just made mistakes like all of us, for a long time, I was crappy to people because I couldn't accept my sexuality. I kept pushing Brittney away but she waited for me. I'm not ready to come out and she's still with me. Now stop crying and pick yourself back up and go get your girl. You're destroying our HBIC image and besides, there's a lot of fish in the sea. Besides, everyone knows you are perfect for the newb." I glare at her and snap "Stop calling her names!" She continues "Sorry, bad habit. Anyway, just get to know her, I mean you guys are friends now, and once they break up; she will be yours for the taking. Everyone at school knows you are meant to be. Now let's go before anyone sees me. I don't want people thinking that I'm a softy now. I don't care so much about your image." She punches me in the arm. I yelp a little and shout back, "You're right. Thanks, Santana, you always know what to say. But for the record, Brittney is making you a big softy. Admit it!" She replies "I know, I know. But we can't have the entire student population knowing about that."

We walk back into school and I am determined to become better with Rachel and make peace with the misfits. I guess I should probably rename them, I noted to myself.

* * *

**AN2: Please review and follow and stuff. I'm getting lonely with just gllover22 here :P, next chapter is the Faberry reconcilliation and possibly first Finchel date. **


	9. Tentative Breakthroughs & Reconciliation

**Author's note: I did some formatting for those of you who were a little annoyed with my big chunks of text. (CapeCodPhoenix), hopefully it's better and you will reconsider my story. Also for this Faberry fans, there are about 2-3 more chapters of Finchel and then it will be over. For this Finchel fans, 2 or 3 more chapters and you might not want to read it any more. Totally up to you. I might shorten it down and get on to the Faberry good stuff as quickly as possible. Leave me a link please, I'd love to hear from you guys. and OH MY GOSH! I started a new story, Frozen, if you guys aren't aware of that, which is another Faberry story. Don't worry, there's a lot more faberry angsty stuff there. I have a beta, lealbee and we are working on the next chapter which I just finished before finishing this up. I just need to send it to her and she can send it back and it will be about within 24 hours hopefully. Again for this story, I don't have a beta so any and all mistakes are mine, as well I don't own anything.**

**Reviewers**

**CapeCodPhoenix: Hopefully, this helps. If not let me know because I am totally appreciative of constructive crit, as long as it isn't too painful.**

**gllover: ITS COMINGGGGGG. When I wrote this I may have puked a little in my mouth, especially with all the "romantics" of Finn. Don't worry, he didn't come up with it. I did. Too bad I'm a romantic and I figured that Rachel would be too. **

* * *

Chapter 9 Tentative Breakthroughs and Reconciliation

Rachel

I guess ever since Finn had been slushied, I had made my decision. I began to look past the fact that Finn was a hunter because he didn't know about it. Hopefully, he would never find out and I began to hope that if he ever did, he would realize that we were worth keeping alive, you know from being with me and all. Still, I can never reveal my secrets, not to be dramatic and all but it would literally doom my race. After telling my dads about Finn, we determined that unless a dragon shifted in his vicinity or I or another dracoling lost control, we should be fine.

Anyway, I didn't think I had feelings for Finn; he is actually pretty cute with his brown eyes and floppy brown hair. His eyes, the more I see them, the more I fall in love, and I am surprised to find them staring at me with love and adoration. His hair is soft and the perfect shade of brown. Not too dark or light, kind of a chocolate brown colour. He is smart and his mother is amazing for raising him the way he is. He is kind and he cares about me and he is everything that Quinn isn't. He isn't a jerk about being on top, he is courageous and he loved me in spite of his popularity. Because of me, he lost it all but he doesn't care about that.

I don't even know what Quinn thinks of me. Don't get me wrong, I still feel a distinct pull to her. Maybe I need to ask my parents about that too, anyway, my point is that while I may have feelings for Quinn, she doesn't feel the same way and Finn is perfect for me …

Well, except for the hunter part. Finn finds me at the end of my first period class and we have our first date on Friday.

* * *

Quinn

Since Santana and Brittney got together, even if it is in secret, there was a large decline in slushy attacks and I think the school is happier for it. I find the other slushy offenders and I get them to stop. When I got sandbagged emotionally by the whole Finn-Rachel relationship, I felt the pain of the slushy and humiliation that comes with it. Coach Sue thinks I am a better leader for it, I guess I am but I don't see myself as a better person. Like I wish that I had thought to buck the system before and not cared so much about the popularity.

I only got popular because I loved the power cheerleading gave me and because I wanted to please my parents. But getting good at something requires a price, in my case, my sister is dead. She died a couple years back in a car accident. The other driver was drunk and he just walked away. Of course, we ended up getting insurance money and money from him and he ended up in jail. But it didn't solve the problem, you know? I lost my sister and my mother has never been the same. She got wasted every other day and home just became the place I didn't want to be because she sometimes hit me when I was younger and still does once in a while now. My father lost his golden child and began trying to shape me as his replacement. My father pretty much did the same and slept with various women, usually without my mother knowing. He said that he would protect me as long as I didn't tell her so I trusted him, but there was only so much he could do when he wasn't around. I spent most of my time on the field behind our house.

I walked there after school and ran until dinner which I often made for myself and did homework before going back out to run some more. Cheerleading, being the golden daughter became the link to my sister, Fran. I felt her in every new move that I learned and in every win or loss, I felt her watching me. That is why I was and am so good.

It is also why I became more reserved at school; I only showed the popular cheerleading playing me, the HBIC me. No one knew that about me, except for Santana and Brittney. I met them in preschool and they became like my sisters. When I lost my sister, she was there by my side, bawling her eyes out as if she too had lost her sister. Many times, she would join me because she didn't want me to be alone and she had seen my bruises before. She sometimes had spent the night with me when she knew that my mom was wasted. She was less likely to hurt me when other people were around. She stood by me and kept my secrets, I will always be grateful to her for that.

Brittney just knew, it was kind of her expertise. She wasn't smart in the traditional sense but she knew people and she knew Santana and I the best.

Which was why as soon as I knew that both Brittney and Santana had feelings for each other, I began looking for ways to tell Santana to follow her heart and go out with Brittney instead. Anyway, I digress. Right, I was looking for Rachel. Hmmm.

I find her with Finn at her locker; they are making goo-goo eyes at each other and holding hands. I walk towards them and turn to Finn "Um, can I speak to Rachel for a second. I promise to respect your relationship and I have spoken to Coach to get you reinstated on the team. She wanted to see you." He looks into my eyes; I guess he wanted to try to figure out if I was telling the truth. He nods and walks towards his office.

I turn to her; she is wearing a pair of plaid short shorts and a blue tank top. She has her shoulder-length hair in a French braid. From here, I can smell the unique smell that is Rachel. It is a mixture of chlorine, which is particularly strong today, I guess it's because she had practice this morning, her fruity perfume and vanilla. She is beautiful and I mentally kick myself for letting her go. I take a breath to focus because I need to make this right so that I have a chance to be with her eventually. "Rachel, I am truly sorry for what happened. I know we had something between us and I was too caught up in my head to do what I wanted to do. I just want you to know that I just want to be your friend. You make me feel wanted. You make me want to tell you everything but I understand that you are with Finn right now. Whatever happens between you, I will no longer meddle with what you have with him. I want you to be safe and I hope you will consider what I am saying. I know we are friends and stuff but I have been distanced lately. I had some things to deal with." She contemplates my words. I continue "I can give you some time to think. Here's my number. If you decide one way or another, please let me know." She nods and accepts the slip of paper, tucking it into her backpack's front pocket. She finally speaks "Thank you, Quinn. I'll let you know. I am going to find Finn. Talk to you later, maybe?" I nod.

* * *

Finn

As I walk to the pool change room, I find Rachel, "So, what did she want with you?" She says "She apologized and wants to be friends again." I look at her, seeing in her eyes that she wants to give him a chance; I shout "You cannot be serious!" She replies, "I can see that there is something deeper going on with her and she reassured me that he will be mindful of our relationship"

I turn around, trying to calm myself down, I feel arms snaking around me and I look down, noticing tan skin that belongs to my girlfriend. I turn towards her without breaking the circle of her arms. "Okay, I trust you."

She smiles widely and I smile back. I begin to walk her towards the outside of the school but she stops me. She says "Sweetie, it's been a long day and I just need some time to myself to think things through."

I nod and I watch as she walks into the girls' change room, I head outside and jump in my mom's car.

* * *

Rachel

I rush to get into my suit, black with a red, orange and yellow flame design and into the water. It feels amazing. It was a really stressful day and I can feel the archeadraco within me pushing to come out. It has only been about a week since the clan meet and a week before I can likely shift again so I settle for a long swim. I swim as long and as fast as I can.

Being an archeadraco comes with many perks, accelerated healing, stronger and faster than humans and we have stronger senses than humans do. We are often smarter as well. However, what sucks is the pain in shifting, the constant carefulness and secret keeping; lying pretty much becomes part of a dragon's life.

It is about 6:30 when I feel that I have banished the dragon deep enough in me when I leave the pool and check my phone. There are missed calls and texts from my parents and a couple texts from Finn asking about my swim and how I am doing and such. I respond to them quickly, texting my mom and dad saying that I was at the pool and was currently heading home and texting Finn that I hadn't left the pool yet, that I had been doing sprints and working on each of my strokes and dives.

I remember the slip of paper and turn to grab it from my bag. I add her number to my phone and I text her saying that I was willing to give our friendship a try, again. Even though I was slightly annoyed at being ignored for the past little bit, I couldn't figure out why Quinn was mad at me. I sign my name at the end of the text because I knew that she hadn't gotten my number yet and I was worried that she wouldn't know who it was. I begin to change into my street clothes after a quick rinse and jumped at the sound of my cell phone. I look at it and notice that I had received a message from Quinn. I unlock my phone, feeling a rush from my draco in the pit of my belly and I wonder again what is with that feeling. I make a note to ask my parents about it and read the text message from Quinn. He was happy about my choice and told me that I wouldn't regret my decision. He offered to take me to coffee in the morning, I love coffee and Finn didn't understand my fascination to the drink and often bought me the wrong one. I text him back accepting his offer.

* * *

I walk home and I made a point to sit down for dinner. It is only my dad home tonight, my daddy is off at work. It's my favourite dinner, lasagne and it's not just some any old lasagne. It's my dad's famous lasagne. There's not too much meat or too watery from too many vegetables or too saucy. It is just right and he often makes the sauce from scratch, it's a creamy and cheesy tomato sauce with meat mixed in layered with a creamy alfredo-like sauce. I cut a large piece for me and one for him and I sit down with him at the table.

I say "Dad, there's this guy at school. And I feel this weird feeling in my stomach when I see him. And when he texted me, I felt a rush in the pit of my belly like the feeling I get before I shift. What does this mean?" He turns to me thoughtful. "I don't quite know. I'll read into it." My dad isn't a knowledge dragon but he is a healer, a doctor so he is quite knowledgeable. He is however, knowledgeable about our condition and has a library set apart for his dragon books. Not his special dragon books though, those are set aside in a different location, probably in his locker at work or in the safe at home. I nod and continue with the meal. He asks about school and about Finn, I ended up telling my parents, they want to meet him as my boyfriend soon. I tell them that they can meet him after our date. I remind them that they need to calm down or they risk accidental release, I know they are on edge about him and knowing what the stress did to me today; I don't want anything to happen. Anyway, we finish off our meal and head off to watch TV or do homework in my case.

* * *

Finn

I arrive at Rachel's house. My mom is driving us to our date. I had it all planned out, I stepped out and rang the doorbell and waited. She opens the door and I can see the family standing in the room adjacent trying to act like they weren't listening in and watching us.

I know that her dads have requested to meet me and she told me that she had told them to wait until after our date. She didn't want them to scare me away and ruin our date. I had also requested her to wear a yellow dress which she did. She put her hair in a complicated up do with a bun that still had strands of hair flowing down and her hair was curled. She wore a yellow dress that just touched the floor and she had a pair of heels on, probably about 3 inches. The dress had white frills and had white lace designs over the bust and the bottom of the dress. I was dressed in a gold and blue blazer with a cream collared shirt and black breeches. I had my floppy hair styled back and in a short ponytail. I handed her a red rose and she gave it to her dad.

She said "Daddy, can you put that in water? I don't want it to wilt." She took my hand and we left her house.

She looked at me and seemed to try to figure out the relationship between our two outfits. I hadn't told her what we were doing on our date and after a couple minutes, she figures it out and breathes "Beauty and the Beast" in a husky voice as if she can't believe that I knew that it was her favourite Disney movie and how she had wanted to see the musical version. We head to the musical theatre and I had set up a private viewing for the two of us. I knew some people who work here and had set this up.

Afterwards, my cousin led us backstage to a room where I had set a picnic dinner with food that I knew were her favourite such as cookies, tea and fruits, she loved berries and watermelon and mangos. She sat down, her eyes shining "You set all this up for me?" she said surprised. I nod and duck my head smiling. I fidget and said nervously "So does that mean you liked it? Did you enjoy yourself?" She nods a mile a minute.

I continue "I guess that means that you did. A lot. Now I have to meet your parents." I hang my head. She comforts me and gets into my mom's car. Rachel and my mom get back into confortable conversation. They seem to get along really well and I am glad about that to be honest. I tell myself that since my mom got along so well with Rachel, I must do the same; I tell myself I can do the same, I can impress Rachel's parents.

* * *

Rachel

We are now heading back to my house to find my parents and convince them that Finn is a worthy boyfriend. What Finn doesn't know is that we are archeadracos and that he is a hunter born to hunt us and that my parents are apprehensive about him for that reason. I enjoyed our date, it was romantic and it made me smile. I could see that he was really nervous about it, he is thinking so loud that I could hear his brain whirring.

It is endearing and cute to know that my boyfriend who is super awesome could be so worried about meeting my people, my parents and my family. As we arrived and we entered the house, I can see that the nervousness and the stress had become more evident on his face. I'm guessing that he is getting a feeling in his stomach signalling the nearness of archeadraco and I hoped that he had passed it off as nerves. I guessed that being so near so many dracos had a profound effect on him. However, I wondered why he didn't look that way at school when he was around Tina, Kurt, Mercedes and Artie, I came to the conclusion that it was because my house had more mature dracolings who typically have larger hoards and are larger, worth more money and more dangerous.

Anyway, we found my parents sitting in the living room and we sit down at the table in front of them. They put on the whole big parent show, the one where they puff out their chests and say that they will hunt down Finn if he ever hurts me and everything. After a long conversation, Finn manages to leave and go home.


	10. My Father

**Author's note:**

**Hey guys, sorry for leaving you hanging :P There's only 1-2 chapters left of Finchel and then it will become Faberry. The story is written, it just needs some alterations (I won't spoil exactly how but it has to do with the revealing of Rachel's draco. which means Finn's hunter will be making an appearance) I know this chapter was a little unlikely what with Finn's father faking his death but I was sort of in a rush and recently I've just sort of hit a dead end with this fan fic. I got kind of annoyed with writing Finchel when what I really want to write is Faberry. On another note, check out my other fanfic for your Faberry hit :) it's got lots of that. Reminder that I don't own the Glee characters nor anything else that you recognize such as Beauty and the Beast, Google, etc nor the dragon/human hybrid idea from Firelight by Sophie Jordan. Also no beta here but if you're reading this while waiting for a Frozen update, lealbee is currently reading the 4th chapter and has the 5th waiting in line. I think I may slow down a little there, I don't want to put too much pressure on her :P**

**gllover22: havent talked to you in a while :P um she's going out with Finn because she's hoping that he never finds out about the hunter stuff. Also because she doesn't know of Quinn's romantic feelings for her and because she doesn't want to ruin their current friendship.  
**

**sammyc21: eh, it's alright. I'm enjoying my other fanfic more. This one was written by me instead of being adapted which means the writing is probably not as good. Anyway, it was different when I first wrote it which is kind of leading me into some problems, I wanted to write a sort of heterosexual glee if you were wondering but I kinda based some of my characters on Glee characters. **

**Emma: I never said it was a Finchel fic. Please read the summary where it clearly says FABERRY and the two names in the square brackets indicating my endgame. **

**DTrish: so sorry :P my bad.**

**Enjoy, y'all. Hopefully I haven't lost you yet. I promise it's starting to get good. Review and Favourite or Follow pls :)**

* * *

Finn

I had an amazing date with Rachel. I'm glad I went all out and thought of the super romantic Beauty and the Beast musical that she loved, although I have to thank my mother for that idea. I loved the way she kissed me good night and our conversations and so much more about her. I was head over heels in love. There was simply no other way to describe it.

There was one problem. By now, I should be comfortable with her but I keep getting the butterflies in my stomach and there was one time tonight, that it felt like not only butterflies but all the bugs in the world lived in my stomach. It got progressively worse when I entered her house and the worst is when we were sitting across from her dads. I guess I could have been nervous but that was like butterflies hopped up on drugs in my stomach.

I can't be that nervous, can I?

I got home and grabbed my laptop and did some research. I put in my symptoms into a search engine. I only came up with medical conditions that I would have no chance of having or were just silly like no; I was not pregnant because I am clearly a guy. Guys can't get pregnant can they, according to Google they can't at least.

Anyway, I asked my mom and she had no clue what was going on. I had asked her about my father before. She said he was absent sometimes and she thought that he was having an affair. Then he had joined the army and was thought to be dead although they had never found the body. The jar of ashes we had was just that, a simple jar of ashes that we were given, according to my mother at least.

I decided to go find him. But I decided to do it at the end of the week.

I was going to have swim practice in the morning so I hurriedly did my homework and went to bed.

* * *

The next day, I tried to talk to my mom about my dad. It turned out that she knew that he had stayed near us before joining the army but stayed out of our way in respect for my mom's wishes. I was surprised that she did that without much convincing on my part, I guess she truly believed he was dead. I couldn't explain it but I had a feeling, in the pit of my stomach. It wasn't the same feeling I felt around Rachel but I had a feeling that my dad was alive, somewhere.

I decided to go to school and think more about my father later. At practice, we were working on our times since the meet was coming up on the weekend. We graded each of our strokes and gave us a list of ways to fix our mistakes. She enters the pool and lazily swims not really paying particular attention to her strokes. I don't have to plan the next date which is good because Kayla and I have an agreement that we would take turns planning dates. We kiss after practice, change and I walk her to her locker and then to her class.

* * *

Rachel

I had to think of the perfect date to match Finn's last date. I knew he had never seen a professional football game and I knew one was happening nearby on Sunday.

I decide to surprise him with the tickets and I ask to be excused from the class before the start of lunch.

During my "trip to the washroom", I placed football sticky notes with instructions pointing towards a location starting from his locker, to the soccer locker room, to the soccer field, to the swimming pool, to the cafeteria, to my locker and finally leading to the bicycle racks where our bikes were chained together. The final sticky note was waiting on the soccer stands where I watched that first game that he had invited me to. I taped the football tickets to it and sat there waiting for him.

He would know something is up as soon as he got to my classroom and saw that I wasn't there. So I decided to text him that I had gone to the washroom and that he should go to his locker. In a couple minutes, he texted back and said "What is this?" I texted back saying "Your date, silly. Just follow along, I'll see you soon"

Not long after, he came out and met me up on the stands. He reaches me and I hand him the sticky note that I had be holding followed by the football tickets. He looks at me incredulously and gathers me into his arms. He is staring at my lips and in that instant, I know he is going to kiss me. I tilt my face slightly and he kisses my cheek instead.

He pulls back and looks at me and I say that I had a cold and I didn't want him to catch it. He nods and he looks happy about the date, I'm just happy he didn't question me about the non-existent cold.

* * *

Quinn

I saw her rushing around making what I knew was going to become a date for Finn. I headed over and asked her how I could help. She sent me with some packages to attach to various locations. She told me that I was awesome and I just blushed and nervously looked at my feet. She tilted my chin up and looked into my eyes.

Oh my goodness, those chocolate brown doe eyes just seemed to look right into my soul.

She said "Really, Quinn! You are wonderful. I am glad to have you as my best friend. I am glad that I can talk to you about everything."

I look into her brown eyes and I so wanted to tell her that I still loved her but I simply said "Thank you but I don't deserve that."

And I walked away to do what she had asked me to do when inside it was tearing me apart, seeing her so happy with another guy.

* * *

Rachel

Our meet went awesome. Most of us qualified for our races, I didn't do as well in diving as Kurt did but I managed to scrape by and qualify for the next meet. We had also signed up for races that we wanted to do for fun, but didn't expect to qualify in. There were a couple surprises like us being allowed to do a relay despite the fact that we didn't have enough for a full team of either males or females. They said that we had to compete with the guys because we had guys on our relay team. I was happy that we had practised relays for fun and I thanked the judges for the opportunity. We took our marks and we actually placed third allowing us to qualify. Our relay team consisted of Finn, Noah, Artie and I. We had Finn in the last position since he was the fastest. I went first since I was the girl but I really made the other teams work for every little inch that they were ahead of me. I honestly didn't think that they expected me to be as fast as I was. Noah and Artie swam well. Artie gets time subtracted from his race time because of his injury. He could not turn like us and can only move using his arms. Over all, that relay was what really stood out to me because we won as a team.

Otherwise, I brought home a first place trophy for the 200 metre and the 400 metre individual medley and qualified for the 50 metre front crawl, the 50 back crawl, the 50 metre butterfly. Finn brought home a second place trophy for 100 metre front crawl and butterfly and qualified for 200 metre front crawl. Artie got third in 25 metre front crawl and second in 25 metre back crawl and qualified for the 50 metre front crawl. Tina got first in the 100 metre butterfly and qualified for diving and 100 meter front crawl and breast stroke. Mercedes got first in the 50 metre front crawl and butterfly and second in the 50 meter back crawl while qualifying for the 100 metre front crawl. Noah got first in the 50 and 100 metre butterfly and qualified for the 50 metre front crawl and back crawl.

All in all, it was an awesome meet because we were there together and it was really well done for our first major meet.

The next day was my date with Finn. As I had planned, Finn loved the game and even more he loved the food I had made him. His favourite team ended up winning and he had bought us matching jerseys. His was his favourite player and while I knew nothing about specific players, I picked the one that had my favourite number, 22 for me.

I knew he loved poutine and burgers but often didn't get them when we had gone out because he worried about the unhealthy food making him fat. He isn't fat at all. He is just being insecure which is oddly endearing. I had made the poutine from scratch, peeling, slicing and baking the potatoes, making the best gravy from a family recipe and cheese curds from a nearby cheese factory. I had then made beef patties from Angus ground meet, which was organic. And the buns were baked in a bread machine that we had at home. I brought containers of ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and relish. As soon as I had told him that I had made it from scratch and that all the food was made from the best ingredients possible, he had pulled me into a kiss and grabbed at the food. I loaded mine with ketchup, mayo and relish and sprinkled shredded cheese. He put all four sauces and added cheese as well. I also brought lettuce and tomatoes to put into the burgers as well as enough to make a salad. I made a salad as I began to eat. I added lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and some croutons and salad dressing.

He ate as much as he could and as did I, we rolled over clutching our bellies. We were so full and he turns to me and unexpectedly says, "I love you." I look at him with what must have been fear and surprise.

He says "You don't have to say it back yet. It is okay, Kayla."

I am pretty quiet for the rest of the date.

* * *

Quinn

They had invited me to go and watch their meet. Out of obligation to Rachel, I had gone. I have little to no knowledge of how to swim or about swimming.

It was just one of those things that my dad never had time to teach me. And my mom didn't do anything that my dad didn't approve of. Plus the fact that if I didn't obey, my dad used to hit me. So I didn't ever learn how to swim because I didn't know how to lie to swim teachers and my dad kept hitting me, until I finally figured out that I needed to be perfect.

Our coffee date went awesomely. From then on, I brought coffee for Rachel every day which I noticed Finn never does. Then again, Finn was never good boyfriend material. He never took care of Rachel, despite being popular, he never stopped the slushy onslaught. So Rachel's dads began to appreciate our friendship.

Of course, sometimes now, since I spent so much time with Rachel, she had begun to teach me a little. I was super scared of the water at first but it was okay because the water level in the shallow end went to my waist. She would hold my hands and teach me how to float which would always make me blush. I mastered that pretty quickly but it was hard because my muscular thighs would cause my legs to sink. She told me to flex my core and as she did, she rubbed her hand over my abs.

Oh my goodness, I saw stars for a second. She noticed that I had lost focus and gave me a little smack to bring me back.

Afterwards, she had me learn flutter kick. By the end of the first session, I had learned a rudimentary front crawl and back crawl. By the next, I had learned whip kick and by end of the next, I could do a rudimentary breast stroke. She refined each of the strokes and by the end of the third week of personal swimming lessons with Rachel, I could do front crawl, back crawl and breast stroke at just below race standards. I had a good teacher after all and I was a totally fit student. Afterwards, she began to teach me butterfly. Now that was a bit harder and took me longer to catch on but by the end of about 6 weeks, I was confident in all four major strokes.

She said that she could have me officially on the team and maybe to the next meet in December. I smiled and told her to teach me how to dive and flip turn and other necessary turns.

* * *

Finn

It's my turn to plan the date. I am struggling to find an awesome idea that will blow away Rachel's football game date. Ahhhh, this is so hard. So I find the person I trust the most, my mom.

I know that sounds lame, the whole me depending on my mom thing. I know it seems like it's a girly thing to do. Like an "un-manly" thing to do but let me tell you a secret, my mom is awesome. She's a romantic and she's beautiful, not to mention that she basically raised me. She raised me to be the awesome person I am so there is no doubt in me that she is the most awesome person in the world.

Anyway, she suggests a picnic and I think it's a great idea. I know that Rachel loves stars and the night sky. So it would definitely have to be a picnic at night.

I know Rachel likes water views and sun sets and nature. So I decide that after school today, I would take her to the nearby lake at around the time the sun sets. This doesn't give me much time to prepare so I start planning food and packing what I would need to take with me right now. I can finish it up after school because the sun doesn't set today until about 7. My menu consists of Caesar salad, which is Rachel's favourite salad. Rachel's favourite appetizers will be on the menu, I decide to make vegetarian sliders, and quesadillas with beans and spinach dip with home made nacho chips. I decide to make homemade vegan mac and cheese for dinner. I decide on the casserole plate as that will retain the heat better than any other dish. For drinks, white hot chocolate with sticks of peppermint. Kayla loves mint. I know that she has a love-hate relationship with secrets so I pack a blindfold.

By this time, I realize that I need to be at school as swim practice starts at 7:30 and I am about 10 minutes from school.

I call my mom and hop in the car. We head to school; I change in a rush and enter the pool area. Everyone is already there and warming up. I say hi to everyone and begin my warm up. I am a little upset because I usually have a little time with my girlfriend before practice starts but since I was late today and she is our captain so she is busy running things. Afterwards, we change and meet outside the change room where we kiss and walk to our lockers.

Rachel promptly gets slushied when we arrive and I snap at the unsuspecting freshman football player who runs off. Rachel assures me that she is alright and she heads to change telling me not to wait.

* * *

Finn

Today is Monday morning; I decided that today was the day that I would contact my father. I went to his house and found him there. At first I was confused but he came out and told me that he had to hide. I couldn't figure out why but he said that he would tell me about everything later. I asked if I could come meet him tonight at a restaurant in town because I wanted to ask him all the questions swirling around in my head.

I went through school a little distractedly and Rachel definitely noticed but I think that she thinks it's due to her letting Quinn join the swim team. Granted I was a little annoyed about that but my father definitely was more on my mind.

The other members of the swim team had noticed that I was a good fit so they believed Rachel's judgement. Plus the fact that the others had totally looked up to her as a leader, it was really strange the bond between them and Rachel. I just chalked it up to them being good friends. Before Quinn became her best friend, the other swim team members must have been her best friends and in some ways I believe they still are.

At lunch time, I check my phone and noticed that my father had answered saying that he would meet me tonight. I didn't know what to think but I turned to Rachel and told her what was really going on. I really needed her so I wasn't paying attention when suddenly Santana appeared and soaked us both with a massive "Thirstquenchers".

I turned to her angry and yelled, "What was that for?" She got angry back and seemed like she wanted to punch me in the face or rile me up so I would punch her so that she could fight. But I would never hurt a girl.

Anyway, before anything could happen, I see arms grab her and I saw Quinn pulling him back. She turns to us and whispers "I'll take her out and figure out what is going on. Take her to get cleaned up and calm her down."

It is then that I notice that Rachel had tears running down her face. I turn to Rachel and say "Love, did you bring extra clothes?" She nods and I walk her to her locker to grab her clothes and then to my locker so I can grab my clothes and we go to our respective washrooms to change.

We both exit with wet hair and we are both in our gym clothes. I whisper in her ear "Are you okay, love?" She says "Yeah, I just thought that we were accepted. I thought that people liked me. I thought that I fit in. I guess I'll never truly fit in." I look at her surprised as she runs off. I let her go. She needs time to think, I knew this because I knew Rachel.

Then, I realized that she hasn't said it back yet and I said it over a week ago. I told her that I loved her. I hoped I wasn't losing her.

Rachel

I ran from Finn. He keeps saying that four lettered word. I am confused. I love Quinn, I know that for sure. I had talked to my parents about it. They realized that it was how they felt when they first saw each other.

You see, dragons have this "perfect mate". It is the person and draco that they are meant to be with. It is the person to best preserve draco genes and produce the best endowed draco babies with. Not only that but they would complete each other. Archeadracos tend to roam the earth trying to find their mate.

The reason my parents didn't figure this out at first was because the object of imprinting usually was another archeadraco. That was the way it happened for my parents, they were both dracos when they first laid eyes on each other.

Fire breathing is rare but imprinting on a human, now that it is even rarer. But I hate that the dragon society expects us to be with the individual that we are imprinted to. I really thought I liked Finn as well, it was just too bad that he was a hunter. Like I wanted to give him a chance. I mean he was the one who had the confidence to come for me when Quinn couldn't.

My parents expected me to break it off with Finn; after all he had the potential to really hurt me with his hunter status one day. If I chose Finn, I would have to tiptoe around him for the rest of my life; I needed to be ready to leave him if I ever felt in danger. If I chose Quinn, I would have to tell her about us. I would also be the one to change him.

Dracos can cause the change in a human but only if the human they are changing is their mate and only applies if the dragon performing the change is a fire breather. My parents were researching this and they tell me it involves me effectively breathing fire into Quinn. I had to breathe the perfect amount, too much and I would kill him, too little and it wouldn't work. She had to decide to want me. She has to want this lifestyle. Not to mention that if she decided to walk away, she would know our secret which meant that she might be killed for knowing our secret by the clan.

I wanted her to make the choice, I won't change her just because she's my mate. That is my decision. I know Finn thinks that I ran because I was unhappy about the slushying but in reality, all of this is what plagued my mind.

Of course, like any other teenager, I wanted to be accepted but I knew that as a draco, I would always have secrets. I would never be fully accepted. Maybe Quinn would accept me but other, regular humans, not so much. And Finn would want to kill me. My parents had learned more about hunters. Their research said that as soon as a draco shifted near him, his hunter instincts will drive him to kill the dragon. I ran outside and sat down against the school and began to cry earnestly. After a couple minutes, I realized if I continued I would be risking draco exposure as I felt the archeadraco stirring deep inside. So I looked for a more secluded area to think and maybe cry some more, somewhere that if I did slip, it wouldn't matter.

Quinn

I bring Santana outside to fresh air hoping that it would clear her head, hoping it would help her open up to me. But we weren't like normal girls, talking about our feelings never came easy to us.

So, I brought her down to sit against the school. She began to cry so I put her in my arms and while she tried to turn away at first, she ended up sobbing against my chest. I rubbed her back and soothed her and wondered what was going on. I thought about what might have changed.

It came to my mind, the only things that might have caused this was her family or Brittany. I turned to my now whimpering best friend in my arms and I pushed her off my chest and said "Does this have to do with your family or Britt?"

She looked into my eyes and said something chilling; she said "Both. My parents found out that I am a lesbian. They found us together." I must have an expression of surprise because she stops and repeats it and exclaims "They kicked me out and I'm at Britt's for now. We figured we should tell Britt's parents but they are okay with it but we have to follow rules that her parents have set."

I prompt her "I don't understand why you are going back to the slushying."

By this time, she is silently crying again and she says,"I'm just so pissed off. Like my fucking family are supposed to be there for me all the time but they fucking kicked me out. I don't get it, like why can't they just love me anyway instead of kicking me out like a piece of shit."

During this, she lowered himself to the ground once again, so I kneel so that I am at her eye level. I tell him "It doesn't matter if your family kicked you out. They are the ones missing out on you. Besides, you still have family. You have me and Britt. We are your family. And once I get Rachel,"

She scoffs, "What do you see in her?"

"She's just good to me. Even after all the crap I pulled on her."

She nods. "Okay, calm down now, stop crying and then we can go find Britt." I tell her.

Finn

I went to the agreed upon restaurant. My mom told me to let her give me a ride but I convinced her to let me walk there, she said that that was fine as long as I texted her if I decided I wanted a ride back and if I texted her when I arrived so that she would know that I was safe. The restaurant isn't far; I think she was just worried for my emotional state and what I might do.

She's worried about what he might say and the things that would upset me. I was pretty nervous about it. I don't remember my father. I only saw a couple photographs, mainly when I was digging around in the basement when mom wasn't home. He kind of looked like me, similar floppy hair style and hair colour. My eyes were exactly like my dad's but everything else was from my mom, I was slim and muscular like my mom but my dad was much bulkier with more muscle than I had.

Entering the restaurant, I texted my mom saying I was at the restaurant and my dad asking if he is here already. My mom texted back with a thank you, a reminder that she loved me and she could pick me up if that is what I wanted while my dad replied saying that he was about 5 minutes away. I told the waiter that I wanted a table for 2 and I texted my dad tell him that I got us a table and added a general location for the table.

In about 5 minutes, the man from the photograph sat down in front of me, he stuck his hand out saying "Finn Hudson?" I nod. "I am Christopher Hudson, your father."

I nod again and shake his hand. He sits down and we both open our menus. After a couple minutes of deliberation, we both picked the same dish. I guess we have similar tastes for food and I made a comment about it.

I guess I had a look on my face because he turned to me after the waiter left and said "You look like you are about to burst. If you have questions, out with it and we can take turns or whatever you want"

I nod.

"Okay, I'll go first then", he says, "What do you like to do in your spare time?"

"I like football, I am the starting quarterback on the school team. I like swimming, I am on the school team and our next meet is in November. I like spending time with my girlfriend and typical teenager stuff like music and TV. What about you?"

He replies "I like hunting. And yeah, I am pretty into sports and I play the guitar. What is your favourite subject in school?"

"I like gym because I am good at it. I like science because it's pretty interesting and music because it's fun. What do you do for a living?"

He shifts his eyes a little, as if he is hiding something. But I keep quiet and I don't call him out on it. "I work as a pilot."

It goes on like this for a while. Then the questions become tougher. He asked me about my girlfriend, about my school friends, about my time with my mom. I asked him why he left us and he said that he was tired of living a lie and when I asked about other women he denied it as my mom told me he would. I asked him why he never came back to us, why he didn't tell us that he was still alive. He just said it was too complicated and it was easier for us that way. I was really mad. I wanted to hit him, but I still didn't get what I came here to find out about yet so I didn't. I told him that my mom truly thought that he had an affair and that was why he was inconsistent and wasn't there for our family, I asked him if it wasn't a women he was preoccupied with, what was he doing.

He again gets shifty eyes and he says "Can we talk about this later and somewhere else?"

I stare at him hard. He says "Text your mom, telling her that you will be home later and that I want to show you my house. I promise there is nothing sketchy going on."

I do as he asks as I am truly curious. I wonder if this has anything to do with the feeling in my stomach. I again chalked it up to nerves because of meeting with my dad but I feel like this feeling isn't like anything I have ever felt. It isn't like the feeling I actually get when I am nervous or scared or even with Kayla. It is something altogether new.

My mom agrees but I can tell she is a little bit unhappy about it, I text her the address that my father gives me. Just in case she doesn't hear from me she would be able to find me or she can pick me up afterward if this goes longer than I think it will. I get in his car and he drives me to his house.

He sits down on the coach after removing his shoes at the door. I do the same. I look around, his house is furnished with furniture that has a sort of leathery reptilian material, and it is nothing like I have ever seen before.

He notices me looking and he starts "That's kind of what I have to tell you about, son. You inherited more from me than just my eyes or my hair. This is my secret, this is why I couldn't spend time with you and your mother and your brother. I am a hunter. But I don't hunt any old animal. I hunt dragons or dracos. And from what you are telling me, you share my secret. You, my son, are a hunter."

I glance up at him, I see that he is telling the truth and I say "So that feeling in my stomach?" He says "It typically means a dragon is near. But I'm guessing the one you are talking about is the one I am also feeling, that means a hunter is near. That's good son, hunters usually take many years to develop their tracking senses and you have them already!"

I open my mouth again, "So all those times, you weren't home, you were tracking dragons? You gave us up for dragons?" I yell incredulously. He steps back saying "You don't understand son, I paid the bills doing this. Dragons have hoards and are worth a lot of money." I continue "That is stupid, I am going home. Do not call me son and I never want to see you again! Dragons don't exist and I can't believe that you are this disillusioned."

I ran to the door, tug my shoes on and I stood on the front porch.

I called my mom and asked her to come pick me up.


End file.
